Baling is a small town remembered by most of us as a meeting place between Tunku Abdul Rahman and Chin Peng. But in this book, the author presents a collection of ten essays that will show the contextualised time geography that Baling had gone through. The three constrasting phases of a place’s life and time – Baling before, during and after development. In December 1974, the smallholders and their compatriots staged the ‘Hungry March’ when they are caught in squeeze of rising cost of living and low rubber prices. Things changed slowly after that and by 1988 the smallholder poverty level slipped to around 70 percent. But the pace of change had quickened thereafter as a result of development project which were embarked in the mid eighties. By 1994 development had delivered when the smallholder poverty slumped to around 45 percent. This write up is based on the studies conducted within this time frame, that is in 1981, 1988 and 1994. Two crucial aspect that was studied and analysed are the transformation of the economic and social structure of the population in Baling. It is hope this book is able to show the transition from poverty to well being in Baling.
ASMAH AHMAD, Ph. D., a Professor at the School of Social, Development and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, UKM.
Published by:
Penerbit UKM
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600, Bangi, Selangor
Malaysia
Fax no. 03-89254575
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