A GROUP of Felda settlers is willing to meet with the Felda bosses to resolve the issue of debt between the government agency and more than 100,000 settlers in the land reform scheme.

The olive branch comes from Persatuan Anak Peneroka Felda Kebangsaan (Anak), which together with activists, wants to take the plantation management agency to court over a contentious replanting agreement.

The second-generation settlers claim that the contract signed by their parents have trapped many of them in debt while reducing their incomes from their oil palm smallholdings.

Anak president Mazlan Aliman said the group had wanted to meet Felda chairman Shahrir Samad since he joined the agency in January.

“We are willing to meet Shahrir to discuss Felda’s worsening problems. It is better to meet and have a heart-to-heart talk than to criticise each other through the media,” Mazlan told The Malaysian Insight.

Besides wanting to find out Shahrir’s vision for Felda, Mazlan said he wanted to discuss with him three topics related to the settlement scheme with 112,000 participants.

The topics are:

* The debts that settlers owe Felda for replanting their smallholdings. In a recent report, Shahrir said the majority of settlers owed Felda less than RM60,000 and fewer than 150 owed more than RM160,000.

* Felda Technoplant Sdn Bhd (FTP), a Felda subsidiary that took over the management of the smallholdings after the replanting. Settlers claim that it was doing a poor job resulting in smaller harvests and reduced income for the settles.

* The general welfare of the settlers’ children, many of whom are adults and still living with their parents. They are unable to find gainful employment in the settlements. and claim the debt their parents owed Felda is being passed on to them.

Mazlan said Felda should put FTP’s house in order as it is responsible for the replanting scheme involving 239,909.49ha of land belonging to 59,569 settlers.

“The failure of both Felda and FTP to work out their differences and deal with these issues have upset settlers.”

Mazlan said while it was Felda’s right to reclaim the costs of replanting the settlers’ smallholdings, it must be accompanied by professional management of the settlers’ land.

“We need to put our egos and emotions aside to figure out a win-win situation for everyone,” Mazlan said.

“Demands that settlers pay their debts in 14 days and threats of legal action are not helpful,” said Mazlan, referring to letters that were given to settlers who wanted to take back the management of their land from FTP. – December 2, 2017.