Who would have thought that in a country that boasts of the world’s third highest building – the Menara KLCC - 82.2 percent of Orang Asli children were found to suffer some manifestation of vitamin A deficiency and rural Malaysian children were overall found to be underweight and stunted?
Malaysian statistics were hard to come by but a recent study in Perak, a northern state in Malaysia revealed just that, said Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific executive director Sarojeni V Rengam.
"In a country which prides itself to be a newly industrializing country, this is totally unacceptable," she said. "We have the third highest building and third longest bridge in the world and yet we cannot feed our people," she stressed.
Sarojeni said this at her welcoming speech at the People’s Caravan kick-off ceremony in Permatang Pauh, Malaysia on August 31st.
She was accompanied by member of Parliament Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, local host Tenaganita director Dr Irene Fernandez, guest speakers from the Philippines Antonio Tujan, Director of IBON and from Nepal Bendap Gautham, Chairperson of All Nepal Peasants Movement and Prem Dangal who is committee member of the Asian Peasants Coalition.
The People’s Caravan for Food Sovereignty started in the hearts and minds of the leaders of the peasant and agricultural workers movements.
Sarojeni said PAN AP felt honoured to have the privilege of facilitating the People’s Caravan in 13 countries in Asia with 3 countries in Europe.
In Malaysia, the kick-off was held on the country’s Independence day.
"This morning we are beginning a journey that has great significance to our struggle for right to food and food sovereignty, a journey to accomplish true Merdeka or liberation," said Sorojeni.
"Today is significant also because it is our day of Merdeka (independence) and yet we are not free from the tyranny of oppression by governments, Transnational companies (TNCs) and institutions such as WTO and International Financial Institutions (IFIs)," she added.
Food sovereignty is very urgently needed today to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. It is an important demand of small food producers particularly the peasants, fisherfolk, agricultural workers and indigenous peoples.
Today 840 million people are hungry and malnourished with more than 500 million in Asia. 2 billion people suffer from "hidden hunger" or micronutrient malnutrition. And every seven seconds a child under the age of 10 dies.
In Malaysia, 20 percent of children under the age of 5 are malnourished.
Sarojeni said patriotic Malaysians should also be concerned for the welfare of our people because Malaysia spends about RM13 billion for imported food, water rights are being privatized, everywhere unsafe food is being produced and the costs are being passed onto consumers.
"Our health is being affected by pesticides and potentially by genetically engineered food and crops," She said.
The right to adequate, culturally appropriate and safe food was one of the rights under food sovereignty.
Paradoxically, it was the small producers and their families who toil the land to produce food for all of us who are the ones who suffer hunger and malnutrition.
Their work and toil is being exploited by the landlords, the elites and now corporations who control the land and productive resources such as seeds, water, forests, and knowledge, appropriate technology, needed to produce food.
It is also happening in Malaysia with corporations now poised to take over control of land belonging to small farmers and even Malay reserve land.
Globally, three TNCs control 75 percent of the world market of pesticides, 90 percent of the market of genetically engineered seeds. These TNCs are from North America and Europe. The same TNCs are also working hand in hand with some governments to exploit for profits the biodiversity of our countries.
For example, our government is now inviting the TNCs to set up their research and development in Malaysia, by attracting these companies with biodiversity resources, particularly in the east coast - Sabah and Sarawak.
Meanwhile, Sarojeni said food sovereignty demands the right to people’s and communities to decide on their food and agriculture policies. "We cannot leave the decision on what and how we eat to the TNCs, to the WTO or to the IFI’s.
"Globalisation facilitated by WTO and the IFIs driven by TNCs is bankrupting our small producers with the dumping of unsafe and highly subsidized food and agricultural products," she said.
"The demand of the People’s Caravan for food sovereignty is to get WTO out of food and agriculture," she added.
"We call for true democracy facilitated with right to information and right to know. Without this there can be no democracy, and no Merdeka," she stressed.
This month long activity will mobilize thousands of people to challenge their governments and international institutions to give prominence to food sovereignty and to guarantee, protect and ensure these rights.
The Peoples Caravan for Food Sovereignty will intensify the campaigns against institutions, corporations and governments that continue to exploit small producers. It will build a people’s food sovereignty to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, for justice and peace and for the true liberation of people in Malaysia and all over the world.
Meanwhile, Tenaganita director Dr Irene Fernandez said the struggle of peasants, farmers, fisher folk, indigenous communities and agricultural workers has been a very long one.
"At each stage of our development, our rights to land has been threatened or taken away. Again at each stage of our growth, we have seen how our agriculture sector has been destroyed through the green revolution, through monoculture plantation based agriculture and genetic engineering," she said.
"Today we have the Barisan National corporate agriculture agenda. In this process, the winners and destroyers have been corporations, the wealthy and the capitalists," she added.
"The capital and profit oriented agriculture, supported by our governments have taken away our rights to land, our rights to food self sufficiency and our rights to safe, healthy and culturally appropriate food," she added.
The People’s Caravan 2004 on Food Sovereignty is crucial to Malaysia. We are at the crossroads in our agriculture. Agriculture is Malaysia’s Prime Minister’s agenda. But it is to move agriculture into where they want to make billions of profit. It is an agriculture that will rob us of our lands and our biodiversity valued but eyed by multinational corporations for profit.
Irene said we were called to resist this agenda that will only turn our farmers to landless laborers, our fisherfolk to cheap workers, our indigenous people, landless and loss of identity, our agricultural workers further exploited.
"We are called to resist because the safety of our food is at risk; the dependence on food import will increase; and our environment destroyed. We as a people, as Malaysians for justice must respond because our country is our responsibility," she added.
Today is a full day of activities. This morning we had the Children’s art competition based on the theme. We have the exhibition by various organizations; local food and herbal festival; and forum rakyat on Resisting Globalization and WTO to ensure Food Sovereignty.
The People’s Caravan in Malaysia will move from Permatang pauh in Penang to Hutang Melintang in Perak where we will have a Forum Rakyat and Concert focusing on Globalization, pesticides and rights of agricultural workers.
From Perak we will go to Pulau Carey to be with the Orang Asli community whose land was taken away by Yayasan Selangor for development and then we will end our program in Kapar with the community focusing on health and food safety.
Irene said that this was the beginning for us to move our agenda for reformasi in the agriculture sector.
"A Reformasi that will protect and promote the rights to land and food. A reformasi that will ensure the rights of agricultural workers especially women pesticide sprayers are protected," she said. "A reformasi that will move the agenda for safe, healthy and culturally appropriate food for all and access for all," she added.
"In other words we work towards justice for the farmer, for fisher folk, for women, for agricultural workers, for indigenous peoples and for consumers… our country, our responsibility," she stressed.
--- Ends ---
For further information contact:
Sarojeni V. Rengam, Executive Director, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific, Penang, Malaysia. Handphone: +60 16 478 9545 PAN AP Tel: +604 657 0271/ +604 656 0381 Email: panap@panap.net, saroj@pc.jaring.my
Susan Loone, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific, Penang, Malaysia. Handphone: +60 16-4133077
Irene Fernandez, Tenaganita, Malaysia. HP: +60 12 316 3011
For more information on the Caravan, please visit the Caravan website: http://www.panap.net/caravan
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