93 percent of Felda settlers still support BN, says Shahrir

GE14 | Despite showing up in droves at Pakatan Harapan ceramah sessions, 93 percent of Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlers continue to support BN, the agency’s chairperson Shahrir Samad said.

Mandarin language newspaper Sin Chew Daily in a report yesterday quoted Shahrir as saying that the attendance at Harapan events does not translate into support for the opposition.

Instead, the settlers’ support for BN was now higher than before, a trend driven by how Felda had implemented many reforms since coming under his helm in 2017.

Shahrir said this was evident in how 93 percent of settlers had participated in a “unity campaign” Felda launched recently and he extrapolated this percentage to their support for BN.

“I have personally observed that the reaction of Felda settlers’ (towards BN) is positive,” he was reported to have said at the 2018 Felda Cooperatives Development Convention in Bangi yesterday.

'Harapan’s harping on old issues ineffective'

Shahrir, who is an Umno politician and incumbent Johor Bahru MP, analysed that Harapan’s constant harping on “old issues” had so far failed to convince the Felda folk.

Despite their attempts to fan flames (of frustration against the government) by highlighting such issues and not mentioning how he and his team had addressed problems within Felda, the Opposition had failed to court any sympathy, he added.

Such “old issues” included the 1MDB affair and how the country allegedly had a large debt.

Shahrir maintained that the country’s healthy financial situation was reflected in its ability to borrow money and pay its loans.  Mkini