DR MAHATHIR Mohamad today blamed former prime minister Najib Razak for the downturn in fortunes of Felda settlers, by accusing his one-time protégé of turning the well-run scheme into a burden for the smallholders.

He said that Felda was an effective agency with the biggest land bank in the world until Najib started Felda Global Ventures with the idea of turning the scheme into a global agricultural and agri-commodities company.

“Najib came in with the idea of starting Felda Global Ventures (FGV), which clearly shows he was more interested in the money than helping people,” said Dr Mahathir, himself twice former prime minister.

Speaking to voters on his campaign trail in Slim, he added that FGV became a problem instead and settlers were later saddled with loans when they bought FGV shares.

The Langkawi MP said he had warned Najib but the latter refused to take his advice.

“Before I quit Umno, Najib came to my house and I told him that instead of giving money to the people of Felda, he should get on the ground and find out the problems they were facing and fix them,” said Dr Mahathir.

However, the 95-year-old said Najib believed that cash was all that was needed for him to win elections.

“Najib going with the slogan ‘Cash is King’ is what cost him GE14,” said Dr Mahathir.

In 2012, FGV shot to global fame as the world’s second largest IPO of the year after Facebook Inc’s US$16 billion (RM66.8 billion) listing, and as the biggest listing in Asia for the same year.

It was the biggest IPO in Malaysia since the 2010 listing of Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd.

However, FGV began experiencing financial problems and mounting debts after its listing and investments in non-plantation sectors.

According to Pakatan Harapan’s White Paper, which was presented last year, the land lease agreement between FGV and Felda resulted in Felda’s income declining by over RM1 billion a year.

 Out of the RM6 billion it received from the listing, Felda spent RM1.4 billion on unprofitable new investments while its unproductive expenditure hit RM4.6 billion.

Dr Mahathir said that PH had planned to help Felda settlers but his government was toppled before putting any plan into action.

“My government was stolen due to certain people in the party asking for it to be destroyed because they assumed that DAP wants to destroy the Malays,” he said.

“But Malays cannot be destroyed. If we can survive the British’s Malayan Union, how can DAP destroy us?” he added.

Polling for the Slim by-election is on August 29. The Perak seat was vacated following the death of incumbent Mohd Khushairi Abdul Talib, 59, from BN, on July 15.

Dr Mahathir is supporting candidate Mohd Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi, 38, contesting as an independent because Pejuang is not yet registered.

He faces BN’s Mohd Zaidi Aziz, 43, and another independent, S. Sentharasekaran, 44. – August 27, 2020.