Report: BN had plans to drive out indebted Felda settlers, claims Bersatu Youth exco

CAMERON POLLS | A Pakatan Harapan youth leader has alleged that there were plans by the former Barisan Nasional government to drive out all Felda settlers and eventually privatise the entire scheme.

The Malaysian Insight quoted Bersatu Youth exco Ashraf Mustaqim Badrul Munir who claimed that the alleged plan was part of the reason BN had saddled the settlers with unbearably high debts.

"The agenda is to make your lives even more difficult, so as to chase you all out.

"This way, they could easily bring in foreigners to live and work in the schemes at a lower cost,” said Ashraf, whose grandparents joined Felda’s first scheme in Lurah Bilut.

"The result is that in 10 to 12 years, settlers will leave and be replaced with foreign labour," he reportedly said last night during a Harapan ceramah in Felda Sungai Koyan 1, Jelai.

Among others, Ashraf said his 80-year-old grandmother was among those who had to take on debts incurred by Felda’s replanting scheme.

"They give out new loans to replant old trees. While waiting for the trees to mature, settlers are forced to take a living allowance of RM1,000 per month," he said, adding that some settlers had to wait for more than four years for their holdings to be replanted.

"They only replant after four years. Can you imagine an 80-year-old woman with debts of up to RM40,000?

"This is an agenda to make you all suffer even more," he further claimed.

Ashraf stressed that while many settlers had called on Harapan to stop blaming BN and instead work to solve their problems, they should remember the parties responsible for creating create the problems in the first place.

Both BN and Harapan have been actively campaigning to gain the support of some 2,800 voters in three Felda settlements located in Jelai, a Cameron Highlands state seat currently held by Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.

Last Friday, in his campaign for BN candidate Ramli Mohd Nor, former premier Najib Abdul Razak had described his administration as the "golden age" for Felda settlers. - Mkini