Real benefits better at winning votes than probes, says analyst

 Academic Tawfik Yaakub says investigating agencies such as Felda and TH will have little impact on the sentiment of Malay voters.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had announced that the government would look into issues involving Felda after the release of the RCI report into Tabung Haji.

PETALING JAYA:

Delivering tangible benefits to Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlers is a more strategic way to win over the Malays than just probing the agency for wrongdoing, an analyst says.

As Tawfik Yaakub of Universiti Malaya points out, the experience with Tabung Haji (TH) proves the point that exposing mismanagement or defending an institution’s integrity alone does not guarantee voter support.

Tawfik Yaakub.

“Malay voters base their decisions on a combination of factors, including the cost of living, income, political and religious identity, leadership, the government’s performance, and relationships with parties at the grassroots level,” he told FMT.

The government made the royal commission of inquiry report on TH public on July 29, three days before the Negeri Sembilan election. But that failed to help Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the polls. It lost the state to the Barisan Nasional-Perikatan Nasional partnership.

Tawfik said that in the case of Felda, the same strategy applies as that of TH. “If the government only exposes what happened in the past and looks for parties to blame, the political impact may be limited,” he said.

“On the other hand, if the government introduces reforms that can improve income, governance, economic opportunities for the second and third generations of settlers and ensure a better future for the settler community, political trust can be built,” he added.

Tawfik said this would also enable PH to demonstrate that its reform agenda is not just to appease the urban elites but also to address problems in government institutions that were important to rural Malays.

At the PKR national congress last Saturday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government would look into issues that have an impact on Felda. His statement came shortly after the release of the RCI report on TH.

Felda was established in 1956 to develop rural land and improve the livelihoods of landless Malays through agricultural schemes.

However, Felda settlers now face issues including debt, high replanting costs, land ownership and inheritance, while the agency has also come under scrutiny over its governance and financial management.

In 2019, the then PH government tabled a white paper on Felda’s sustainability, outlining measures to address the agency’s financial and governance problems, including RM6.23 billion in government funding to help service its debt.

Mazlan Ali.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Mazlan Ali agrees that probing Felda would likely have limited impact on Malay voters overall, as lower-income Malays tend not to focus closely on such issues.

“Investigating government agencies such as Tabung Haji and Felda can only win the support of the M40 and T20, or middle-class Malays,” he said.

Mazlan said PH and PKR should therefore focus on reforming Felda’s system, particularly where settlers felt their interests were not being adequately protected.

“There have been many complaints that the existing system sometimes does not benefit settlers, but benefits Felda itself.

“Efforts to focus on settlers are therefore a good way to gain Malay support on this issue,” he added. - FMT