No allocation to settle Felda settlers' debts in Perikatan's 2021 and 2022 budget, says PM

ALOR SETAR: There was no allocation to write off Felda settlers' debts in the budget presented by the Perikatan Nasional government in 2021 and 2022, claims Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The Prime Minister said he was not lying when he said he would write off the Felda settlers' debts.

"The truth is as the Finance Minister, I had only signed the allocation at the end of June this year," he said at the Program Temu Anwar Kedah at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) here on Saturday (July 8).

He questioned how former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin could say the matter had been resolved when the allocation was approved when the unity government came into power.

Anwar, however, admitted that it was an 'agreement in principle' during the previous administration but the allocation was not signed and approved.

He said the budget presentation during the Perikatan administration did not include an allocation to write off the settlers' debts totalling RM8.3bil.

"Only during the Madani Budget presentation in November last year, an initial allocation of RM990mil was handed over to Felda for that matter," he said.

Anwar was responding to Muhyiddin who accused him of lying about writing off Felda settlers' debts.

Muhyiddin said that the waiver of the debts was implemented during his tenure as prime minister and it was confirmed by the Prime Minister's Department in a parliamentary response on Feb 23, which stated that the resolution of Felda settlers' debt was carried out in 2021.

In a statement Saturday (July 8), Muhyiddin said former Felda chairman Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh issued a statement on Feb 24 confirming that RM8.3bil of Felda settlers' total debts of RM12.1bil was waived in 2021, which had a major impact on Felda's cash flow.