so the heartlands and cores of economic development taking place within each country. They are regions where opportunities are relatively more abundant. A result is the movement of population from the rural areas into the cities in search of an alternative form of livelihood. But armed with nothing more than hope and sheer determination, and frequently without 'root' in the cities, the majority of newcomers head for the shanty towns which now fringe the outskirts of all South-East Asian cities; there they live in houses made from corrugated iron, plastic sheets and packing cases, without safe drinking water or adequate sanitation. With high-unemployment problems, the urban poor are trapped in a vicious circle. Those lucky enough to have a job suffer long hours, low wages and exposure to chemicals, dust, excessive noise and dangerous machinery.
In most cases. the squatter areas of these cities were left out of the rapid economic growth that these urban areas had enjoyed in recent decades. Many are unlikely to enjoy wide-ranging reforms in the future.
In short, they have remained, at best, economically and environmentally stagnated, like the Klong Toey community in the metropolitan district of Kraeng Thep Maha Nakhon, Bangkok. The Klong Toey community consists of 30,000 people squatting in houses often so crowded as to have 4 adults per room in dwellings built over a swamp. Only 3 in 100 have direct access to water supply; most people draw water from the filthy river. In addition, the lack of sewage and rubbish disposal is a constant threat to health. One-third of school-age children cannot attend school.
The same situations characterize many other major cities in South-East Asia such as the Tondo area of Metro Manila in the Philippines. However, even the meagre salary earned by these urban squatters, which in the case of those in the Tondo area amount to P10,000 per household per annum, is significantly higher than the national average of P5,800. As Myers (1985) has noted, the Klong Toey community is relatively well off compared with their rural counterparts, aside from the environmental threat. Even in Kuala Lumpur, where the degree of success in addressing squatters' problems is significantly better than in most countries, l 7 per cent (over 156,000 people) of the city's population were still squatters in 1985.
In the rural sector, Malaysia has easily outpaced her neighbours in efforts to reduce poverty. Even so, the conditions in some parts of the rural economy have changed only marginally. In the agricultural sector, a significant degree of disparity still exists. The poverty level among many categories of small-scale farmers is still very high; 43.4 per cent of rubber smallholders, 57.7 per cent of paddy farmers and 46.9 per cent of coconut farmers in Peninsular Malaysia are still living below the official poverty line. Although specific data are not available, the incidence of poverty is estimated to be even higher among the swidden farmers and other indigenous communities in Sabah and Sarawak who, unlike their peninsular counterparts, are frequently left out of development projects directly funded by the federal government.
However, among the perplexing aspects of modern Malaysia is the fact that some of the impoverished agricultural areas include large-scale development projects implemented by the government, notably those for the paddy farmers and rubber smallholders; for example, the Muda valley in the peninsular state of Kedah is not only the site of the largest wet-rice irrigation project, it is also managed and administered by a specially instituted statutory organization (the Muda Agricultural Development Authority) to 'ensure its success'. But apart from considerable success in the spread of double cropping and the promotion of more productive technology, the social benefits are limited. Almost half (46 per cent) of its paddy farmers earned less than M$60 per month in 1982, 10 years after the completion of the project (Shukor Kassim, Gibbon and Todd, 1984). A social condition worse than in other paddy areas