‘Chaos if Pakatan get its hands on Felda land’

Pakatan's pledge to give Felda land back to the settlers should it take over Putrajaya comes under fire.

KUALA LUMPUR: Chaos will reign in Malaysia if Pakatan Rakyat were to take over the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), the government warned.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Ahmad Maslan attacked the Pakatan’s plan to hand over Felda land to its second and third generation settlers.

Pakatan had promised to dissolve Felda plantations within 100 days should it take over Putrajaya and distribute the land to second and third generation Felda settlers.

“There are 1.6 million second and third generation Felda settlers. This is not a small number.”

“If Felda land, which is about 341,000 hectares, is distributed, it would mean each settler descendant would get less than one acre of land,” Ahmad said.

He said that such an action would also affect the 23,000 Felda staff and the 60,000 plantation workers employed by the government agency.

Ahmad was speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby after addressing a question by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in the Dewan Rakyat.

He said that under the opposition, Felda would be confirmed bankrupt and there would be chaos in the country.

Massive losses

Anwar earlier asked the deputy minister about Felda’s current financial standing, as well as the rationale behind its RM6 billion Employees Provident Fund (EPF) loan.

Ahmad said that Felda’s total assets were at RM19.18 billion, although he conceded that it could be more depending on the market value of Felda land.

He added that Felda liabilities including its loans were at RM4.9 billion, its cash reserves at RM2 billion, and its 2010 net profit at RM1.197 billion.

On the EPF loan, he said that Felda used RM3.55 billion from the RM6.5 billion borrowed thus far. According to Ahmad, the loan covered funding for:

• replanting schemes in Felda settler farms encompassing more than 232,100 acres;
• building 1,300 units of affordable housing projects;
• a national food store project, with investments in livestock and vegetable farming; and
• the purchase of a sugar manufacturing company, Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Holdings Bhd, for RM1.5 billion.

Anwar did not appear impressed and asked Ahmad about Felda’s losses, especially through Felda Global Ventures, as well as the US-based Twin Rivers Technologies (TRT).

He said that a large chunk of the money had been used to fund Felda’s foreign investments, which ultimately resulted in massive losses.

Rubbishing Anwar’s claims, Ahmad said that foreign investments, especially Felda’s, were not instant reward-makers.

“Where are the assets that experience instant profits? Getting profits takes time,” he said, adding that no Felda settler would be burdened by these losses.

Even with Ahmad’s explanation, Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs were irked by Anwar’s line of questioning, and ganged up to attack Pakatan lawmakers.

These included Maran MP Ismail Abd Muttalib, who asked Ahmad what would happen if Pakatan were to go ahead with its plan to disburse Felda land to the settlers.

However, Ahmad was unable to answer this question because House Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia decided that too much time had been wasted on the topic and moved on to the next question.

Later at a press conference, Anwar questioned Felda’s foreign investments, as well as its business direction.

“Felda Global Ventures has incurred massive losses, in some instances, worse than Sime Darby. Was the finance minister consulted? Who gave the approval?” he asked.

Anwar also asked why the RM6.5 billion EPF loan was never brought up in Parliament.

Gombak MP Azmin Ali, who said that Pakatan would only give back Felda land to second and third generation settlers, accused the government of giving Felda land to cronies.

He said that not every Felda settler had become rich from the country’s largest plantation scheme.

“This is a big issue in the Felda plantations. Not all Felda settlers have succeeded. In fact, there are thousands who have not succeeded,” he said.

Pakatan lawmakers also scoffed at Ahmad’s suggestion that the many thousandsof Felda-associated workers would be dropped out in the event of Felda land disbursement.

They said that the workers and managers affiliated with the plantation schemes would still be needed to take care of matters, even after the land was given back to the settlers.