Felda bash: Azmin denies 'boos', settlers chief claims 'hunger, not anger' at Dr M

Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali has denied claims that he was jeered at when delivering a speech at the national-level Felda Settlers Day 2019 celebration in Rompin, Pahang, yesterday.

Quizzed on a viral video, he replied: “No, I spoke at length. There was some disturbance but it was not aimed at me. There was some commotion at the back but we do not know about it.”

The minister also dismissed PKR Youth's claim that the incident took place because Pahang is an Umno-led state.

“No. the menteri besar (Wan Rosli Wan Ismail) was there, so were the state exco members. We have a good working relationship,” he told reporters when met in Parliament this evening.

Azmin said prior to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad visiting the state for the Felda celebration, he received a letter from the menteri besar to discuss infrastructure projects in the state.

“At present, we have agreed to consider three mega projects in Pahang which the PM announced in his speech (yesterday)... This proves we have not sidelined development in Pahang and the working relationship (between Putrajaya and state government) is good,” he added.

Earlier, Azmin's aide Hilman Idham also denied that the settlers booed when Azmin was speaking.

"Yes, I was there. It's not true," he said in a text message to Malaysiakini.

During the 45-second video clip of Azmin's speech, loud noises could be heard in the background.

'Settlers breed like cats'

Meanwhile, the minister was also quizzed on celebrity chef Redzuawan Ismail's comments in an Instagram posting after receiving the Felda Icon Award from Mahathir during the celebration.

Redzuawan, who is popularly known as Chef Wan, had ticked off the “lazy settlers” and accused them of “breeding like cats”.

Azmin described this as a personal view, stressing that what is more important is that the government has put forth a new policy and model to be tabled in Parliament.

“We have received an enormous allocation to make this initiative a success... This morning, I spoke to the PM again about this effort because the PM wants action to be taken in the near future.

“We are committed, with the PM himself attending the celebration. The turnout of the settlers was also beyond expectation,” he added.

In his post, which also attracted former premier Najib Abdul Razak's attention, Chef Wan (above) said Felda settlers should work hard to cultivate cash crops since the price of palm oil is uncertain.

“Malaysia is blessed with good soil and there is a lot of idle lands. The government should privatise this land for cash crops.

“I have travelled to Australia, Norway and Sweden for my TV shows and saw how people cultivate cash crops and raise livestock, making full use of the land and contributing to the economy.

“Back home, many of my fellow Felda settlers sell off fertiliser subsidies given to them by the government, and when they receive dividends, they marry two or three times and ‘breed like cats’!

“I saw all of this when I was growing up (in a Felda settlement). Their bad attitude has been passed on to their grandchildren,” he added.

'Hungry settlers went looking for food'

In a related development, Sinar Harian quoted Felda National Settlers chief Sulong Jamil Mohd Shariff denying another video clip.

This clip allegedly showed a group of settlers "boycotting" the function by leaving during Mahathir's speech.

However, Sulong claimed that those seen leaving their seats could have done so to get food provided by the organisers.

"When Mahathir started to speak it was about 11am and settlers were hungry after waiting from the morning, so when they saw the food, they went up to get some," he said.

Sulong added that only a small number out of the reportedly 14,000 who gathered had done so, while others chose to remain in their seats. - Mkini