Appeal to resolve Felda housing woes

Product of Felda: (from left) Felda second generation settlers Mohamad Ishak Abdol Hamid, Sharifah and Asmawi speaking on the problem of securing their own houses in Felda settlements.

JOHOR BARU: Second-generation Felda settlers are hoping that the newly-appointed chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad will solve the issue of housing in the settlements.

Asmawi Mispan, 41, from Felda Taib Andak in Kulai, hoped that Shahrir would give his immediate attention to provide housing for the second generation Felda settlers.

“I don’t know when the housing scheme will take place in our settlement,” he said.

Asmawi and his four siblings are now staying with their parents in Felda Taib Andak. Asmawi applied for the housing scheme in 2007, but did not get a reply on the status of his application.

He said settlers were informed that at least one child of the first generation settlers would be entitled to build and own a house next to their parents’ houses.

“We checked with Felda and they told us there is no land in our settlement for the housing scheme,” said Asmawi.

Sharifah Nor Md Sangidin, 37, from Felda Tanjung Jengka 20, Pahang also agrees with Asmawi.

“If Felda fails to start the housing scheme for the second generation as promised years ago, this group of people will move elsewhere,” she said.

This is already happening in Felda Tanjung Jengka 20, where the primary school enrolment dropped from seven classes to one class, added Sharifah Nor.

She also urged Felda to widen and improve the existing roads within the settlements.

“The roads we have now are very narrow,” she said.

In 2013, former Felda chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad said the scheme was specially tailored for the children of early Felda settlers living together with their parents who did not own houses yet.

To qualify, applicants must reside or work with companies under the Felda Group or run small businesses within the settlements.