DAP has formed a Felda parliamentary bureau to support DAP MPs to champion the cause of Felda settlers to ensure that they are not the latest victims of injustices or a bungling and kleptocratic government.
The appointment of Datuk Shahrir Samad as the new Felda Chairman has not alleviated the concerns and even worries of the Felda settlers that their legitimate rights and interests are properly safeguarded and protected.
In fact, it is the height of irony that Shahrir’s appointment as Felda Chairman had led to more turbulence in the stock market with talk that Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) may be taken private, presenting the deep chasm between the lucrative promise when FGV was listed at an IPO price of RM4.55 in 2012 and its doldrum RM1.70 range at present.
Felda and its associates collectively own the biggest stake in FGV at 36.69 percent.
Shahrir should learn to be more circumspect in his statements and not to “rock the boat” with his speculative talk of the possibility of taking FGV private, without any study being made.
Before the new Chairman could assure Felda settlers about various controversies, including Felda’s controversial purchase of a 37 percent stake in Indonesian plantation firm Eagle High Plantations, which critics, including CIMB chairperson Nazir Abdul Razak, said was overpriced, new controversies have arisen including reports that Felda is selling part of its stake in Maybank to raise up to RM280 million.
Felda settlers are the majority voters in at least 54 of the 222 seats in Parliament, and has helped bring the Umno-led Barisan Nasional coalition to power in every election since independence in 1957.
Things may be heading for a change unless the grievances and complaints of the Felda settlers could be given satisfactory answers by the government.
The DAP Felda parliamentary bureau comprise:
Chairman: Datuk Mohamad Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz (MP for Raub)
Deputy Chairman: Tony Pua Kiam Wee (MP for PJ Utara)
Vice Chairman: Kasthuri Patto (MP for Batu Kawan); Tengku Zulpuri Puji (Pahang Assemblyman for Mentakab); Lee Kee Hiong (Selangor Assemblywoman for Kuala Kubu Baru)
Secretary – Dyana Sofya
Members: A. Sivanesan, Terence Naidu, Young Syefura Othman, Cheong Siow Foon, Bakar Ismail, Shifa Nurul, Mazir Ibrahim, A. Ramakrishnan, S. Veerapan, Leong Yu Man, Ahmad Rizal Selamat, Irene Tan and Mohd Syafi’i Mazlan.