The Malaysian Insight

FELDA’S troubles after the 2012 listing of FGV can be traced to when the federal government was under the fourth prime minster, Najib Razak said today.

Deflecting the blame from himself, the former prime minister said Felda’s biggest problem was caused by aged oil palm trees.

He said before he became PM in 2009, Felda and  agriculture were not the government’s priority, unlike  industries and car-making and steel.

“There was a decision by the fourth prime minister in 1996 to stop all government funding to Felda. It was told to find its own money,” he said in a Facebook post without naming Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is back as prime minister.

As a result from the decision back then, Najib said the oil palm trees grew old.

He said when he became PM, the palm oil yield per hectare had fallen for the first time in history, and the welfare of settlers was neglected.

“The situation forced me to take proactive steps, which was to take over debts and have FGV (Felda Global Ventures) listed to cover the cost of large-scale replanting at the oil palm estates and improve the settlers’ welfare and lives.

“Had we not done that, the trees would have continued to age, yield would have gone down further and Felda would not survive another 10 or 20 years.”

Najib also posted part of the letter written by the new FGV chairman Azhar Ahmad to shareholders, which had laid bare the many problems faced by the company that lost RM13.6 billion in market capitalisation since its listing.

The letter stated that more than half the oil palm trees were already too old by the time FGV went listed.

After the listing, over 10,000ha were replanted each year by FGV.

“This letter clearly shows that FGV’s biggest problem is the age of the oil palm trees, and the cost and large-scale replanting,” the former prime minister said.

“The 10,000ha of land is not a small area,” he said, comparing it with the size of a 287ha steel company in Pahang that was used to accuse him of selling the nation to China.

Najib said FGV and Felda were different entities, and if FGV had not existed, Felda would have had to fund the replanting itself.

FGV also rented land from Felda, paying the latter RM250 million a year and 15% of its annual profit, apart from handling the replanting.

Najib went on to point out how Azhar’s letter had explained why FGV had no choice but to continue replanting despite the low prices for the commodity.

“The large-scale replanting takes time and will reduce FGV revenue each year because new trees will only be productive after five years. Like what the chairman said, FGV has no choice but to continue replanting.

“All these have a huge impact on FGV profits for years after the listing. The yield from all this hard work will only be seen in years to come.

“It is cruel that I was slandered with the Felda and FGV issues all this while when my intentions were to solve the problems - which were not caused by me - and to save Felda and protect the future and wellbeing of the settlers,” Najib said.

Under his administration, Felda and FGV were faced with scandals, including graft. Settlers were also unhappy with the low Felda share prices, late aid payments and other issues.

The troubles were played up by Pakatan Harapan in the run-up to the 14th general election last year to swing Malay votes away from Barisan Nasional. – February 21, 2019.