CRONYISM and the neglect of education under the previous Barisan Nasional administration caused Felda’s stunted growth, said Lim Kit Siang.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said people expected the previous government to spend money to help farmers generate secondary economic activities through shops, farming machineries, workshops, and small enterprises that supported the local economic ecosystem.

But none of it happened, due to Felda’s practice of subcontracting these services to BN cronies, he said in a statement today.

The scenario created monopolies and limited the first- and second-generation settlers’ ability to partake in these economic activities, Lim said.

“Umno cronies – companies from outside the system that had no intention to integrate with the local Felda community – monopolised farming machinery maintenance services. Competition was stifled.”

Lim said for decades, BN treated Felda settlers as its vote bank, exploiting them and neglecting their socio-economic advancement.

He accused BN of neglecting the education of Felda families, likening the old government to the British colonial masters who only wanted the Malays to be better farmers than their fathers without training them to diversify their talents and grow their potential.

“The first-generation Felda settlers were mainly poor. They were sent to develop rural land into cash crop plantations. They were never given other training besides farming.

“This is reminiscent of the British colonial administration’s policy of keeping the Malay farmers as farmers, and only giving their children education to become better farmers instead of diversifying their talent pool,” he said.

Lim said Felda’s economic growth was thus stunted, and settlers often had poor financial literacy skills, which led them to “waste away bonuses received and continue to depend on government allowances for a living”.

“This is why we see Felda settlements today being plantation villages, with no other industrial activities at all,” the DAP veteran said.

Lim said he learned from a settler’s son that any plans they made to expand beyond cash crop farming were barred by Felda.

Settlers were barred from planting other crops or running other economic activities on the land allotted to them without permission, reducing their ability to diversify their income generation.

He said permission sought by settlers were turned down by Felda, which had also barred them from industrial activities.

“Investors cannot go into the settlement areas to tap human capital due to the land monopoly.

“This has created a situation where the second generation of settlers have to either move out of Felda in poverty or continue to be farmers, taking over the plantations from their parents.”

Lim admitted that BN had tried to rectify the lack of talent diversity by providing scholarships to second generation settlers so they could further their education in other fields.

However, the initiative still failed to translate into jobs or create secondary economic activities creation due to the limitations faced by the settlers, he said.

To reform Felda, Lim said the Pakatan Harapan government would liberalise the secondary economic market for settlers, so they could better develop their communities.

“By removing cronyism and corruption within Felda, we can finally realise Felda’s true potential as a social programme intended to lift the rural poor out of the poverty cycle while creating a vibrant community.” – January 13, 2019.