Years of toil earn settlers only 2.5% FGVH stake

Despite having toiled in the fields since 1960s, Felda settlers on the whole will only hold 2.5 percent stake in the Felda Global Ventures Berhad (FGVH) when its listing exercise is over.

Revealing this at a PKR's Felda Community and Orang Asal Convention yesterday, PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli said the figures are based on the presumption that all the 112,000 settlers purchase the FGVH's shares.

Quoting the figures from FGVH's prospectus, he said the 2.5 percent stake is far lower than the portions given out to institutional investors and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, of 41 percent and 11.5 percent respectively.

Rafizi (left) slammed the prospectus as being "extremely unfair" to the settlers as Umno cronies who, he presumed, may be allotted free shares under the category of "institutional investors", receiving higher profits than the settlers.

"Let say the son of Jempol Umno division head gets 30 lots of shares for free, and the shares price spike for RM2 in two month, he can get RM60,000 by just selling them off.

"But the Felda settlers who for generations have been toiling the lands only receive RM15,000 under the so-called windfall dividends. Is it fair?" he asked.

Rafizi was one of the speakers featured in the one-day convention attended by 500-strong crowd in Sepang, the others included PKR Felda Community and Orang Asal bureau chief Suhaimi Said and his deputy Bod Manolan Mohamad.