Can we see the baloney of these statements - (i) “I do not deny that leakages occurred and many complained that Felda made decisions to engage in unprofitable ventures. It impacted our finances and that is why we are selling our shares in Maybank,” and (ii) “We are not using the proceeds from the Maybank share sale to pay for the EHP purchase. The monies will be used to pay for management costs which will benefit the settlers, other than to balance out the cash flow of Felda and its subsidiaries.”

Seriously, I do not know what corporate people we have in Felda in recent years that have made this once-eminent organisation into a shadow of its glorious past.

For goodness sake, why are we diving into the mud on everything we do? Where are the lessons learnt and the responsibility accounted for? Is this all we got, selling the jewels and the golden goose to raise cash to pay management costs to benefit the settlers? But what about the leakages that cause the problem to begin with, when are we going to plug them? If this is the way to go, frankly, we do not need Shahrir Samad as the new chairperson of Felda.

Hello, Felda settlers should be paid from profits and incomes generated from its business/investment activities, not from selling its jewels and assets. There is no ‘extra earning’ from selling assets. You are just generating onetime cash flow, that is all. After selling the jewels, may I know what would be the future hold for Felda?

Why only now is Felda talking about unprofitable, non-strategic and non-synergistic investments here and abroad? When alarms were raised earlier, no one seemed concerned or bothered. We let those big heads in Felda to do whatever they please.

Why do we need Shahrir to tell us there were leakages and unprofitable ventures incurred by Felda now? Worse still, do we need him to tell us Felda must now sell its better assets to raise cash to keep the organisation afloat?

For goodness sake, why are we only good at closing the stable door after the horse has bolted?

If Felda needs to sell Maybank stake to raise cash, it shouldn’t be thinking of another borrowing to buy PT Eagle High Plantations (EHP) at the same time. Are there reasons to justify that EHP is a better investment than Maybank? My concern is Felda may be selling a better asset in exchange for the lousier one. How then is Felda going to keep itself afloat going forward?

When a business entity needs to resort to a fire sale of its most valuable assets to raise cash, the problem is usually quite terminal already.

It is rudimentary to note that investment decisions must take into account profitability, cash flows considerations, gestation periods, and exit strategies. I think the problems in Felda demonstrate none of these traits. If there are no responsibilities accounted for, there will be no lessons learned. We are destined to repeat the same baloney everywhere. Has this not become the hallmark of Malaysia today?