TAMPIN: Excessive political interference turned the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) from a profitable billion-ringgit plantation giant into an agency saddled with almost RM10bil in debt, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said Felda had once been among the world’s largest and most successful plantation organisations, generating billions of ringgit in annual profits and providing good returns for settlers and their families.
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"I took over the responsibility of overseeing Felda because the agency was burdened with debts of almost RM10bil.
"This is not politics; it is a reality," he said during his speech at the Semarak Kenegaraan programme at the Syed Sirajuddin army camp here on Monday (July 27).
He said Felda flourished under the stewardship of early leaders such as its founding chairman Tun Raja Muhammad Alias Raja Muhammad Ali and Tan Sri Taib Andak, the agency’s second chairman who was appointed by Malaysia’s second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.
"Felda was managed efficiently. It became the biggest plantation in the world, generating billions of ringgit in profits every year while settlers and their families benefited from the returns," he said.
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However, Anwar said the situation began to deteriorate about seven or eight years ago following changes in management and what he described as excessive political interference.
"An organisation that was making billions in profits eventually accumulated losses.
"People ask where the money has gone. Today, the government pays about RM980mil every year just to service Felda’s debts," he said.
Anwar stressed that the problems were not caused by the settlers, rejecting any suggestion that they were to blame for the agency’s financial woes.
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"So we must ask what went wrong. Was it because the settlers did not work hard?
"No. The problem was that those entrusted with managing the organisation betrayed that trust," he said.
Felda, established in 1956 to eradicate rural poverty through land development and oil palm and rubber cultivation, remains one of Malaysia’s largest statutory agencies, with more than 100,000 settler families nationwide.
It has undergone several restructuring exercises in recent years as the government works to restore its financial position and improve the welfare of settlers.
