Table plans for Felda’s long-term direction in Parliament, says NGO

 

Persatuan Anak Peneroka Kebangsaan president Mazlan Aliman has questioned the initiatives in place to reform the 67-year-old Felda. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: An NGO has called for plans and policies affecting Felda’s long-term direction to be tabled in Parliament.

Persatuan Anak Peneroka Kebangsaan (Anak) president Mazlan Aliman said doing so would allow MPs to discuss and debate the matter with the aim of producing “effective solutions for the next 20 to 30 years”.

In a statement, Mazlan also urged the government to review the Felda White Paper which was tabled in Parliament in 2019.

“We don’t even have updates on its progress,” he said.

Pointing out that only 30% of the 112,635 settlers in 317 Felda schemes are still alive, Mazlan questioned what initiatives had been put in place to reform the 67-year-old agency and chart its long-term direction.

He said new policies for Felda should be drafted with the involvement of the new generation of settlers, adding that it was also important to amend the Group Settlement Act 1960.

“Some provisions in the Act are no longer relevant, especially those related to inheritance, and they are causing disputes among siblings,” he said.

Mazlan was commenting on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement yesterday that Felda would remain under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department until the most pressing issues faced by the agency and its settlers are resolved.

In a Bernama report, Anwar said Felda is currently under the Prime Minister’s Department as “there are a lot of problems, and I do not want to resolve them in bits and pieces”.

In June, Anwar signed an agreement to waive RM8.3 billion of Felda settlers’ debts. He also allocated RM21 million to build 12 haemodialysis centres and RM7.7 million a year for the cost of operating street lights in all Felda regions.

While Mazlan welcomed Anwar’s announcement yesterday, he said Felda is in poor shape with “billions of ringgit in reserves” having vanished and the agency now facing a “growing pile of debts”.

He said the inefficient management of plantations and stagnant income are other pressing issues faced by Felda settlers. - FMT