Felda colleges said to close over ‘budget cuts’
By Trinna Leong, The Malaysian Insider
Malaysian palm oil giant Felda is mulling over the shutdown of Yayasan Felda colleges as part of budget cuts this year, delivering a blow to some 1,000 settlers’ children enrolled in the affected educational institutions.
The Malaysian Insider understands that director-general of Felda Datuk Faizoull Ahmad has decided to slash funding to RM5 million this year to operate all four colleges, although the annual cost of operations is roughly RM16 million.
Sources said due to the budget cut, colleges located in Kelana Jaya (Selangor), Trolak (Perak), Mempaga (Pahang) and Raja Alias (Negri Sembilan) would most likely face closure once the management makes public its decision.
The sources said that a final decision on the college budget would be determined at a Felda board meeting next week, but added that odds are Faizoull would bulldoze his decision to close the college.
Attempts by The Malaysian Insider to meet Faizoull for comments were declined although he had earlier promised a meeting.
Felda, or the Federal Land Development Authority, is a government agency that has some 113,000 settlers working in rubber and oil palm plantations in the country. Its commercial arm Felda Holdings Bhd successfully launched the world’s second-largest IPO in 2012 for its unit Felda Global Ventures Bhd.
Felda Global Ventures is now the third largest palm oil company in the world by planted acreage. In Malaysia alone, it controls more than 850,000ha, which includes the roughly 500,000ha that it leases and manages for Felda settlers.
The colleges are coveted by settlers as it is an opportunity to learn a skill on the cheap and employment is almost guaranteed as the plantation giant will absorb its graduates.
The students are only required to pay a one-time fee of RM250, with boarding, food and school fees subsidised by Felda.
The Felda colleges provide vocational training in different fields for up to six months before hiring most of its graduates int one of its company’s arms.
It was only a month ago when Felda chairman Tan Sri Isa Samad announced that it would allocate RM17 million to Yayasan Felda, the body running the colleges, for training schemes and programmes for settlers’ children.
Sources said that Faizoull’s decision to reduce funding stemmed from personal reasons and that he had in the past defied the Felda board of directors’ consensus.
Unafraid to make decisions to slash funds from multiple Felda initiatives, Faizoull shut down several programmes since he took office in 2012.
As one of the country’s agriculture success stories, Felda had been committed towards helping settlers improve their lives through education and training.
The national corporation was the legacy of second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the father of current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Developed as a government agency in 1956, its aim has been to help the rural poor settle into new areas growing crops. Over the years, Felda grew into a giant conglomerate operating businesses in agriculture, hospitality, transportation, milling and others.
The settlers’ have in return remained fiercely loyal to ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) for the various benefits that Felda offered in the form of dividends, education and medical aid, housing assistance and other aid.
