THE Pakatan Harapan government will continue to serve Felda settlers in Cameron Highlands even if they do not vote for the coalition in next weekend’s by-election, said Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The assurance from Azmin, whose ministry oversees the ailing land development agency, comes as PH struggles to make headway into the three main Felda settlements in the parliamentary constituency.

“My intention is not to make a promise to settlers so as to influence the way they vote in the upcoming by-election. Whoever you choose, the government will continue to serve Felda,” he told settlers in Sg Koyan 2 today.

“Even though Felda owes RM8 billion in debt, we will still look into the problems of housing and education aid. We will ensure that Felda is managed by professionals, not politicians who make decisions based on political interests,” he told about 20 settlers whose housing project has been abandoned.

The project, involving 140 houses for the children of settlers, has been abandoned for the past two years. Twenty-four units do not have electricity meters installed, while about 80 were built on sinking land.

“If you want me to tell you that I can solve these problems in one week, I will not, because that can be considered an electoral bribe. But, I assure you that the management will look into the problems and solve them in a reasonable period of time,” said Azmin.

He described the project as a legacy problem that PH inherited from the previous Barisan Nasional government.

He added that Putrajaya is looking into getting rid of settlers’ debts that are considered “unreasonable”, such as loans taken out for the purchase of imported fertiliser and to build village roads.

“We will also look into the interest rates of these debts, as those that are too high are a burden to settlers.”

Azmin reiterated that PH never promised to wipe out all of the said debts, only those deemed unreasonable.

“Loans are something agreed upon by two parties. We, as Muslims, should pay off our debts. What we (PH) promised is to get rid of unreasonable debts.” – January 20, 2019.