The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) may hold a nationwide inquiry to probe into various allegations made by farm settlers against the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).

Suhakam's Complaints and Inquiries Working Group chairperson Khalid Ibrahim today said that such an inquiry might be held if they found they needed more information to get a true picture of the situation.

NONE He was speaking to politicians, reporters and around 100 Felda settlers ( left ) who gathered at the Suhakam office in Kuala Lumpur today.

The settlers from Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Perak submitted a six point memorandum to Suhakam, alleging that Felda practise discrimination against the settlers by manipulating the 1960 Group Settlement Act to restrict the use of their land.

According to the memorandum, Felda has sidelined 25,000 settlers who would like to take charge of their farms as they have now settled their debts with the agency.

However these settlers were accused by Felda of being not being compliant and were denied their land titles, RM17,000 replanting fund, license to sell palm oil. agricultural and lifestock subsidies, education and business aids and bonuses from farm produce.

The memorandum also claimed that their income was only a few ringgit after vague and exorbitant deductions by Felda for fertiliser and farm maintenance, farm insurance, management levies, consultation fees and road repair works.

 

Khalid said he would review the issues thoroughly with the other commissioners in a meeting on March 8 and that Felda would  be given the chance to tell their side of the story.

No power to enforce

He reminded the settlers that Suhakam is only able to forward recommendations to the government as it does not have any enforcement power.

Felda has been hit with allegations of imposing exorbitant rates, fraud, discrimination, unfairness, misuse and abuse of funds in recent years.

Two years ago, the Kota Bharu High Court ordered Felda to pay RM11 million in damages after settlers alleged that they were cheated of payment for palm fruit from 1996 to 2002.

Baharuddin Arif Siri, 59, a Felda settler since 1979, described Felda's indifference towards the plight of the settlers as irresponsible and self-serving. NONE

Saad Jamaluddin, 63, another first generation Felda settler, also lamented the fact that the agency has been witholding the deposits that they have invested for 15 years.

"Felda gave us lots of nonsensical excuses to restrict our withdrawal," he said.

Also present today were PKR leaders Sallehuddin Ayub, Tian Chua ( right )and PAS central committee member Mazlan Aliman, who is also the Persatuan Anak Felda (Anak) president.