This morning, I accompanied my wife and her sister from KL, to some smallholders' estates near Pusing, which were planted with rubber trees or oil palms. Among those estates were more than 20 fish ponds owned by someone, with valuable fishes like 'Sultan fish' and 'Ikan hantu', as well as the red talapia meant for the urban markets. As nature would have it, where there are fishes, bigger birds like egrets and even a stork was spotted, there being no shortage of food.Access roads, to me were terrible, but to my country loving wife, 'these roads are considered good'! Now and again, she had to use '4-wheel drive' to get up the steep and slippery hills, especially after rain. Moreover, the access roads involve going through others' property and the necessity to open gates which were put to prevent encroachers as well as cattle. Cattle and even wild boars are a nuisance when small oil palms are just planted. Replacement plants meant additional work and costs.
It is not everybody's cup of tea, looking after estates. I can still remember once, a few years ago, when I was told to look for her ex-classmate whose lorry was stuck while delivering some stuff for the rubber estate. If not for being there a number of times before, I would not be able to know the location. But I managed to spot him on his way out and in a really frustrated tone he said, "Why did they buy such a god-forsaken place?"
Well, one man's rubbish is another's treasure. While on the guided tour, my wife explained the history of the purchase prices of some of the smallholdings. For example, one lot was bought at Rm9,500 per acre some twenty years ago and the neighbouring lot was recently sold at Rm85,000 - almost 10 times higher! Over a number of years, you can never go wrong with landed property. Even neglected lands are valuable after so many years. What used to be paying for contractors to clear old rubber trees, now contractors have to pay for the rubber wood being cleared!
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