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SECRET.
lrig.nego.
18885/6/43.
Extracts from Far Eastern Weekly Intelligence Summary No. 50 for week ending 10.12. 43.
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MALAYA. Broadcasts.
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(a) Remarkable progress has been made in attempts to increase the area under rice in Selangor. Production has doubled as a result of reclamation of the coastal area between the rivers Selangor and Bernam, and now stands at 14,000 tons per annum, which covers 14% of the total demand.
(b) The implication is that the Japanese are, to some extent, responsible for the improvement in the rice situation in
Selangor.
This is not the case. The improvement reported is the natural result of the irrigation scheme inaugurated by the British authorities in the years between 1932 and 1936, when a dense swamp jungle in this area was reclaimed by a system of drainage, whereby some 15,500 acres of paddy land was made available. 7,700 of these were planted up in 1938 and the results of the work would have been just about becoming apparent at the time of the outbreak of the Far Eastern war. Selangor can never become self-sufficient in rice as there is not sufficient suitable land. The State contains some of the oldest rubber estates in the country and also a considerable amount of mining land. It also carries a population of between 5-600,000. To attain self- sufficiency, it is necessary to have something like half an acre per head of the population and this could never be achieved in Selangor.
At the present moment, including the reclaimed areas reported above, there are probably not more than 35-40,000 acres under paddy, and it would probably be impossible to increase this by more than another 20,000 acres. The above is a very good example of Japanese broadcasts taking credit for work of the British Government, now coming to fruition.
BORNED.
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Information from other sources:-
1. (a) The diamond output in Borneo is being doubled under Japanese rule.
(b) Japan is short of industrial diamonds and the Matapena mines in Borneo are the only known source of industrial diamonds in Japanese occupied territory. Pre-war production was some 2, 200 carats. The mines were flooded in 1942 but it is possible that this small production has been doubled. The important point is, that even if their claim is accepted, the figure is still a trifling one and disposes of the much larger figures which have from time to time been mentioned as conceivable.
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Extract from Weekly Shipping Intelligence Summary.W. I. S. No. 50. (Unless otherwise stated, all information is from other sources.
Shipbuilding (other than wooden ships) Repairs and Port Facilities.
It is reported that the raids of July 27/29th 1943 apparently
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caused
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