The opposition's attempts to disparage the government's promise to provide a windfall to Felda settlers for the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) are deemed to insult the settlers' sacrifices.

Felda chairman Isa Abdul Samad said the windfall was a deserved reward for the settlers' support, hard work and dedication to Felda's land development programme over many decades.

"Prime Minister Najib Razak has repeatedly promised that the government will give a ‘durian runtuh’ (windfall) payout to all Felda settlers in the lead-up to FGVH’s planned listing.

"The government has also repeatedly stated that the money to be utilised for the payout will be from Felda’s own funds and not from the Treasury," he said in a statement today.

He was commenting on PKR latest claim that Felda settlers would not receive any ‘durian runtuh’ payment, but would instead be forced to take loans to buy FGVH shares.

Najib to announce huge windfall

Last month, Najib when addressing the people at the ‘Leader with Gugusan Bera Settlers’ gathering in Felda Triang 3, Pahang said he would announce what could be described as a windfall in May for Felda settlers in conjunction with the listing of FGVH and described the announcement as something that would make the settlers dumbfounded.

Despite these assurances, Isa said PKR consistently attempted to politicise and confuse the issue which proved their willingness to trivialise the settlers' sacrifices.

Moreover, he said, it was never the government’s intention to force any settler to buy FGVH shares as alleged by PKR.

Isa said in a listing process, many companies offered key stakeholders the opportunity to subscribe to their shares and it was quite normal for companies to arrange for commercial loans to be made available to these stakeholders who wished to purchase shares.

"If Felda does the same, it will only be because we want to facilitate the settlers' participation in the expected benefits of FGVH's planned listing.

"The potential creation of one of the world's largest plantation companies is the beginning of a significant chapter in Felda's history. As the original 'pioneers', Felda settlers should have this option to be part of the transformation.

"If commercial banks are involved, it will only be because they can provide a service to make this possible for the stakeholders who require financial assistance to subscribe to the shares but, of course, those who wish to may purchase the shares using their own funds," he said.

Share option separate from windfall

Isa said if Felda decided to adopt such a scheme, the share option would be entirely different and separate from the ‘durian runtuh’.  

"For those settlers who are satisfied with their windfall payments and have no wish to participate, the government will not in any way compel them to buy shares," he said.

Citing PKR’s attempts to confuse settlers with misinformation as irresponsible, Isa said "it is not true that the land leased to FGV belongs to Felda Plantations Sdn Bhd and is part of the listing.

"We are listing FGVH (the company), not land. Besides, the land is 100 percent owned by Felda, not Felda Plantations Sdn Bhd," he added.

FGVH is a global agriculture and agri-commodities company based in Malaysia, with operations in 10 countries across four continents and is principally engaged in three main business segments, namely plantation business, downstream business and sugar business.

- Bernama

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