Kelantan, situated in the Far North-East of the Malay Peninsula has been built
upon the proud traditions of a rural based social-economy. The Malaysian state of
Kelantan has been relatively independent, without direct foreign occupation and
control since the early 1400s, except for short periods by the Siamese and
Japanese. Malay tradition and culture is relatively undiluted in Kelantan in
contrast with the other states in Malaysia. Maintaining cultural integrity and
traditions is something important to both the social and spiritual identities and
aspirations of the Kelantanese, and this factor must be considered in any potential
development in the state. Therefore the development of natural products in
Kelantan must be approached differently from the rest of Malaysia due to the above
cultural factors and aspirations of local people. Ignoring international
opportunities for natural based products would disadvantage Kelantan, but at the
same time ushering in large multinational companies to exploit Kelantan’s natural
resources such as land would have high social costs from the Kelantanese
perspective. This implies that the development of natural products should be on a
small enterprise scale rather than large enterprise scale, the new industries do not
drastically change cultural conditions, and this be achieved with limited resources
and more upon local exploration and cooperation, rather than outside interference.
Consequently business models based on cooperative labour and shura decision
systems, in decentralized production units would be a preferred option. Marketing
paradigms need to be developed that carry Kelantanese culture as a theme
specializing in particular niche markets need to accompany these new production
models. The potential for natural product development in Kelantan along the
business models outlined above include herbs, essential oils, nutraceuticals,
cosmoceuticals, natural dyes, Islamic medicines, food ingredients, traditional
products, and some biotechnology based products including organic agricultural
chemicals, all with Toyyib/Halal integrity can be developed and commercialized
with specialized value chains based on low resource endowments. These products
have specific markets nationally, regionally, and internationally through new
supply chains developing across the world including organic, Fair-trade, and Halal
markets.
