Various claims have been made about the extinction of Malay Reservation Land in the country. Before
independence, the land depreciation was due to the acquisition of land by the British colonial
government for mining, opening of new villages during the communist threat and the mortgage and
sale activities by the Malay landowners to non-Malays. After independence, land depreciation linked
with the acquisition of land by the government through the Land Acquisition Act, 1960. This study is a
content analysis study involving material derived from the secondary source text and earlier research
findings. Emphasis is given to analyze the statistical size of Malay Reservation Land in the country.
Results show that the allegations regarding the depreciation trend of the Malay Reservation Land is
inaccurate and misleading. While the analysis of the size of the Malay Reservation Land found that the
actual percentage of Malay Reservation Land in 2009 was 30.13 percent instead of 11.83 percent as
claimed. The percentage grew steadily in 2013 to 31.85 percent. The analysis also found that there was
confusion about the actual size of Malay Reservation Land in the country.
The multiple ownership status of the Malay Reservation Land (MRL) has existed since its
establishment by the British colonialist through the Malay Reserves Enactment 1913. The main factor
of the multiple ownership status was due to the continuous process of land inheritance from generation
to next. This situation has given negative implications in the development of the land. This article
discusses the issue of developing the multiple ownership of Malay Reserve Land. Data collection is
conducted by semi-structured interview to the Perak Tengah District Officer and a number of
landowners involved in MRL’s multiple ownership. The qualitative data analysis shows that the
multiple ownership of the MRL can trigger social relationship problems among land co-owners and
subsequently create problems to develop them. It is proposed that co-owners be more tolerant and
willing to develop their land in joint venture scheme or develop individually through the process of
land partition. In order to resolve the difficulty of obtaining financing, landowners must ensure that the
development project is competitive and implemented within the local development zone.