In Felda, Pakatan looks for another Hindraf
By Adib Zalkapli, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The government’s admission that Felda’s RM4 billion cash reserve has dwindled significantly has renewed Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) hope to win over the voters in settlements run by the Federal Land Development Authority.
PKR Felda bureau chairman Suhaimi Said told The Malaysian Insider the party has been busy organising meetings with settlers and forming party branches, turning Felda settlements into a battlefront for the next general election.
“Felda settlers are slowly preparing for an uprising. They are rural Malays, they may not be able to talk like Hindraf supporters or protest like them, but look at our conventions, seminars for Felda settlers, the response has been encouraging,” said Suhaimi, referring to the Hindu Rights Action Force which was behind the country’s largest Indian protest in 2007.
“In the 1980s we used to get, at most, 50 people at Felda gatherings. Now it’s not unusual to get thousands of people,” said Suhaimi.
The Hindraf protest saw some 30,000 Indians marching in the streets of Kuala Lumpur to protest against alleged discrimination.
The protest is said to have led to Barisan Nasional (BN) losing its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament.
Felda currently administers about 480 settlements nationwide with 112,635 settlers.
The largely Malay settlers backed BN in the last general election, resulting in PR’s defeat in rural, Malay-majority constituencies where most Felda settlements are located.
PR has intensified its efforts to win the Felda votes since Election 2008 with various rallies and recruitment drive.
“They admitted the decline in cash reserve. How they spent money for unnecessary projects, for their new headquarters,” said Suhaimi, referring to Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s recent remarks on Felda’s cash reserve.
The deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department had admitted Felda’s cash reserves plunged from RM4.08 billion in 2004 to RM1.35 billion in 2009.
He clarified that RM2 billion was spent for replanting crops, RM603 million for interest-free housing loans, RM253 million for Sabah poverty eradication efforts and RM662 million was used for the controversial new Felda headquarters.
“So we wonder what will happen in five years’ time. We ask the settlers what is Felda’s future if this is how they are managing the money,” said Suhaimi.
PKR and its publication Suara Keadilan are facing legal action over its report alleging that Felda was on the verge of bankruptcy.
“We do not want Felda to be bankrupt, we want Felda to prosper for settlers,” said Suhaimi, who has been campaigning actively especially in Pahang Felda settlements.
“If Felda continues to spend money like this for political projects and mistreat settlers, it won’t be long before settlers turn to Pakatan Rakyat,” said the lawyer, who has been working on Felda settlers’ rights since the 1980s.
