Middle-income Felda (HL)

Shahrum Sayuthi; Ben Tan; Ahmad Fairuz Othman
New Straits Times
01-19-2011
Middle-income Felda (HL)
Byline: Shahrum Sayuthi; Ben Tan; Ahmad Fairuz Othman
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Main Section

LABIS: Fifty-four years after the first scheme began in Lurah Bilut in Pahang, the Felda community has now officially become part of the country's middle-income group.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this was based on their average income of RM3,000 per month - higher than the income of 40 per cent of Malaysians in the lower-income bracket of RM2,430 per month.
"This is a significant achievement for the Felda community and proof that this land scheme has transformed the economic landscape of our rural areas."

At a gathering in Felda Cempelak here yesterday, Najib said the average income of RM3,000 had enabled the families to lead a better quality of life compared with those with the same income in the urban areas because of the lower cost of living in Felda schemes.

"We should be glad that the Felda settlers now have 10 acres (four hectares) of land each while previously they were landless and lived a hard life."

There are 112,635 Felda settlers, with 1.65 million staying in Felda schemes.

The gathering, attended by more than 10,000 Felda settlers from all over Johor, was arranged as part of Najib's one-day visit here.

The prime minister also visited Felda Cemplak Barat and Felda Tenang.

Present were Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, ministers and Felda officials.

Najib said despite the success in improving the lives of the settlers, Felda would continue to come up with various programmes to assist them and their children.

Among these programmes were interest-free loans to improve their homes, free Internet access, vocational training for their children, housing schemes for the second generation settlers, and various bonuses and financial incentives.

On promises made by opposition parties that they would dissolve Felda Corporation and give the land to children of the settlers, Najib said this would prove disastrous for settlers and bankrupt the land scheme.

"This is just an empty promise so that they can get the support of the settlers.

"All this while, they have been claiming that Felda is bankrupt. This will become a reality if they get to break up Felda Corporation."

Najib said the Felda management had been self-sufficient and its current annual budget was RM1.6 billion, mostly for providing infrastructure, better amenities and wages of staff.

The prime minister, who is also the minister in charge of Felda, said instead of breaking up Felda to cater for the needs of its second generation settlers, the government would find new plots of land to enable them to have their own sources of income.

On claims by the opposition that Felda was bankrupt, he said the land scheme had assets worth about RM15 billion, with liquidated assets worth more than RM5 billion.

"How can Felda be bankrupt then?"

He challenged critics to prove their claim that the land scheme was on the brink of financial disaster.

At another gathering at Felda Tenang, Najib said a few African countries had tried to emulate the Felda development model but they had proved unsuccessful.

"Why is our country more successful than them? This is due to the leadership of Barisan Nasional all this time."

Najib also announced a RM1.13 million allocation for the upgrading of mosques, surau and religious schools in the Tenang state constituency.

(Copyright 2011)