The lower social strata tended to support the respective dominant faction, the middle classes in the cities and the landholding magnates in the countryside.
Remnant populations are now usually restricted to roadsides, travelling stock reserves, cemeteries railway easements and the occasional private landholding.
In 1969 approximately 80 percent of rice farmers owned the land they cultivated, and the landholding for each family averaged slightly more than two hectares.