ABSTRACT
The adjustments to rapidly changing conditions made by the Pahang people can be elucidated by using the cybernetic model. In such a model an agricultural production system is seen to include within it a "control system", consisting of positive and negative feedback. The frequent minor flooding of farmland during the rainy season presents few problems to which Pahang culture is not well attuned. The "great floods," which fortunately occur at long intervals only about three times per century, are entirely different in effect, overwhelming the system with intense positive feedback. Pahang Malay villages are overpopulated and cannot acquire needed land, because open land is reserved for largescale scheme farms. The local abundance of scheme-produced products in the marketplace severely limits marketing opportunities for villagers. Even with scheme agriculture still young and far from reaching maximum production potential, the income disparity between scheme and village families is already great and increasing.
