In Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia the reforms have emphasized getting landless people onto land that has never been settled. In Malaysia the program has been well organized to promote economic development through production of rubber and palm oil for export. Each farmer in the program receives a share of land with a lease title for 99 years. This land cannot be subdivided, subleased, or taken from the owner-leaseholder in any way. Since the colonial era, most of the tillable land in Central and South America has been owned by very small, wealthy segments of the population.
Much land is owned by foreigners and multinational corporations.
The power of concentrated wealth, in combination with government by authoritarian regimes, has served to block most efforts at redistribution of land in Central and South America. The one major exception has been Mexico, where reforms begun in 1915 and broadened in later decades, have attempted to restore land to the Indians and other farmers. This policy has been pointed to as a prime reason for Mexico's political stability as compared with other Latin American nations. The Learning Company, Inc.