Ku Li - Penyenaraian FGVH bahaya kepada peneroka...

Veteran Umno, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah berpendapat usaha kerajaan untuk menyenaraikan Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd (FGVH) ke Bursa Malaysia sesuatu yang bahaya kepada masa depan peneroka.

Ahli Parlimen Gua Musang itu yang ditemui Harakahdaily semalam berkata, beliau diberitahu banyak pihak bahawa apabila disenaraikan, bererti pemilikan harta khususnya tanah peneroka akan terdedah kepada pasaran terbuka.

Apabila terdedah di pasaran terbuka katanya, sesiapa sahaja termasuk pihak asing boleh datang untuk membeli saham tersebut dengan berapa harga sekalipun sekiranya mereka mampu.

Ianya akan menyebabkan peneroka bakal berdepan resiko kehilangan aset tanah-tanah mereka sekiranya pemegang saham menjual pegangan mereka.

"Kalau harga melonjak naik, pemegang saham nak rasa keuntungan, sudah tentu dia akan jual (kepada pihak lain)... bodoh la kalau tak jual untuk ambik kesempatan keuntungan.

"Akhirnya tanah yang kita miliki dahulu sudah hilang kerana orang lain sudah memiliki saham yang mempunyai hak ke atas tanah milik kita dahulu. Itu suatu yang bahaya!," katanya yang lebih mesra dengan panggilan Ku Li.

Difahamkan, menurut pelan penyenaraian yang dijadual Mei ini, sebanyak 360,000 hektar tanah Felda Palantation dipajak kepada FGVH selama 99 tahun.

Selain kebimbangan hilang hak milik tanah, turut difahamkan Felda juga dijangka akan mengalami defisit tahunan sebanyak RM1.5 bilion Felda apabila menyerahkan tanah kepada FGVH.

Malah, mengulas lanjut, Ku Li yang juga bekas Menteri Kewangan berkata, jika nasib mereka tidak baik, peneroka mungkin akan diusir dari tanah yang mereka diami dan usahakan selama ini.

"Ini mati hidup peneroka ke atas tanah yang mereka telah usahakan selama ini. Kalau tanah itu dijual oleh kerana saham dijual, maka kita tak ada lagi hubungan dengan tanah itu malah tak ada hak pun nak duduk di situ.

"Saya tak tahu kerajaan ada cara lain untuk menjamin hak peneroka supaya kekal, tetapi saya tak nampak," katanya yang juga presiden NGO Amanah.- harakahdaily

Kelantan mahu ambil balik ladang bakal diurus FGVH

Ku Li says FELDA listing will endanger future of settlers

The proposed Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) listing will endanger the future of settlers as they risk losing their land assets, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has said.

In an interview with Harakahdaily, the Umno politician said that once the listing took place, land belonging to FELDA settlers will be exposed to the open market.

The Umno veteran said that once the listing took place, land belonging to FELDA settlers will be exposed to the open market. — file pic

Once exposed to the open market, he claimed that “anyone” could buy up shares at any amount if they could afford it, and that this will result in settlers losing their land assets if shareholders were to sell their shares.

“If the price goes up, and if the shareholders want to profit, of course they will sell (to other people) ... it would be stupid not to take advantage of a profit (making) situation.

“The land that was previously owned will be lost because other people have owned shares and now have rights to the land. That is dangerous,” said the Kelantan prince.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had recently said the listing of FGV, announced in Budget 2012, is expected to take place in April, instead of the middle of the year as earlier planned.

But critics contend that the proposed listing, which will see loss-making FGVH assume control of the FELDA Investment Co-operative (KPF), will short-change smallholders and saddle FELDA with up to RM1.5 billion in yearly deficit.

The government has said the move will result in a RM5.9 billion lump sum payment to settlers but the National FELDA Settlers’ Children’s Association (ANAK) has insisted it will not be in cash but shares in FGV.

“This is a question of life and death for the settlers. If the land is sold because shares are sold, that means we no longer have rights to the land.

“I do not know if the government has another plan to guarantee the rights of settlers, but I do not see it,” Tengku Razaleigh told Harakahdaily yesterday.

Last week, a group of settlers won a temporary court order blocking the transfer of shares from their co-operative to FELDA Global Ventures (FGV), a crucial step in Putrajaya’s plans to list the plantation firm.

KPF has already cancelled today’s extraordinary general meeting following the temporary court order.

The Kuantan High Court gave eight settlers an interim injunction barring the handing over of shares in FELDA Holdings to FGV, or any discussion being held on behalf of KPF on the matter.

FGV subsidiaries such as FELDA Iffco Sdn Bhd, FELDA Global Technologies, FELDA Global Ventures Middle East and FELDA Global Ventures Arabia are reported to have chalked up accumulated losses of around RM500 million up to last year.

The profitable FELDA Holdings has a workforce of some 19,000 employees, with a labour force of 46,795 workers at 300 estates, 70 palm oil mills, seven refineries, four kernel-crushing plants, 13 rubber factories, manufacturing plants and several logistic and bulking installations spread throughout Malaysia and several locations overseas.-malaysian insider

Kelantan to block land acquisition for FGVH

The Kelantan government said today it will appoint a legal panel to stop Felda Plantations from acquiring 55,500 acres of land in the state.
According to the exco member in charge of economic affairs Husam Musa (right), the state will not sign any deal which effectively gives land ownership to Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH), which is slated to be listed in May.

“The acquisition was forced upon the state government, which is still unclear of its implications. It goes against the Group Settlement Areas Act 1960.

“Felda Plantations is under the jurisdiction of the GSA Act, which means that land ownership can only be for settlers and the settler cooperative,” he said in a statement.
 
He added that this means Kelantan can rightfully take over the plantations and distribute them to new settlers.

“If this happens, about 8,000 new settlers will be given four acres each,” he said.

PAS-linked pro-settler NGO Anak had last month revealed that Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states - Kedah, Kelantan and Selangor - with Felda settlements have pledged not to sign any land deals which give land ownership to FGVH.

FGVH is scheduled to be listed on Bursa Malaysia on May 10.-malaysiakini

Felda: Najib must explain ex-aide’s role

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Pakatan Rakyat wants Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to explain the role of his former special officer Omar Mustapha Ong(picture,above) in the controversial move to list Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH).The opposition wants to know if the listing proposal aims to serve the interests of a few. Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin in his posting on the matter yesterday claimed that the person close to Najib was likely to cash in on FGVH’s public listing.

PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar said Putrajaya had yet to explain the allegation – also raised by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim – despite the rising anger over the proposal to list FGVH.

The Pokok Sena MP alleged that the Omar-linked Ethos Consultancy’s involvement indicated Putrajaya’s premeditated plan to exploit FGVH’s public listing with complete disregard for the settlers’ welfare.

“The move was done without prior consultation with the stakeholders and it was done without the consent of the Kooperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF),” he told FMT, referring to the rushed emergency meeting held by the body on Jan 5.

The meeting resulted in the appointment of Umno man Isa Samad as KPF chairman. Settlers protesting against FGHV’s listing saw it as Putrajaya’s way of forcing KPF’s consent with regard to the move.

“Is there something that we don’t know when it comes to the the involvement of someone like Omar in this issue?

“Is this proof that the listing proposal is aimed at serving the interests of some people? Najib must explain,” said Mahfuz.

‘Settlers will be shortchanged’

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Felda matters Ahmad Maslan said the listing would make FGVH a blue chip company in global plantations. However, the proposal met with opposition from the PAS-aligned National Association of Settlers (Anak), which claimed that the listing would shortchange some 200,000 settlers in Felda schemes across the nation.

Under the listing proposal, settlers would swap their 5% stake in Felda Holdings — which made RM760 million last year — for a 61% stake in FGVH. Protesters, however, scored a minor victory following a temporary court order issued yesterday blocking the transfer of shares from the co-operative to the Felda’s investment arm.

Omar’s involvement was first raised by Anwar last year.

The PKR de facto leader had demanded disclosure on the fees paid to Ethos for its appointment as consultant. He also asked how a firm like Ethos, with no expertise in the agriculture industry had been appointed as consultant to Felda’s commercial arm whose international subsidiaries lost some RM500 million up to 2010.

Najib’s fingerprints

PKR vice-president Tian Chua meanwhile said Ong’s presence in Felda through Ethos was a clear sign of “Najib’s fingerprints” in the deal. The Batu MP echoed Mahfuz’s views that this showed Putrajaya never had any intention to consult settlers on the decision. He said Omar’s involvement showed Najib wanted full control.

“We can see to what extend he (Najib) wants his people controlling the deal just shows how much he wants to cash in on this,” he told FMT, adding that the prime minister must clarify the matter.

Omar, who is also an independent, non-executive director at Petronas, is the co-founder of Ethos, a management and strategic consulting firm. Raja Petra, in his posting yesterday, also said that Omar advises Najib on his corporate moves and has been doing so even back in the days when Najib was still just the deputy prime minister.

“Omar Mustapha Ong is a member of Khairy Jamaluddin’s ‘Fourth Floor Boys’, the team that helped Abdullah Ahmad Badawi run the country when he was the prime minister. They not only ran the country. They ran it into the ground,” he added.- FMT
 

Bangladeshis in Felda?

New arrivals are expected to be brought in to work in plantations just as the government grapples with over million foreign workers who have yet to be legalised.

In the near future, thousands of new Bangladeshis may be brought in to work in Felda (Federal Land Development Authority) plantations.
Tenaganita – a migrant worker NGO – president Irene Fernandez made this claim today, adding that the recruitment of these Bangladeshis may start in June.

“We’ve heard from sources in Bangladesh that sometime this June, there will be a new recruitment taking place, (bringing in) Bangladeshi workers to Malaysia, (to work) particularly in the Felda schemes,” she told reporters at Tenaganita’s office.
Fernandez asked why the government appeared to tolerate this apparent recruitment when it still had one million undocumented workers, many without any work permits, to deal with.

“Our concern here is that we still have one million workers to be regularised (though they have been) registered under the biometric system.”

“Why can’t we provide employment to these one million migrant workers instead of obtaining new recruitment?” she asked.

Citing the Home Ministry, she said that only 379,020 out of the total of 1.3 million undocumented migrant workers had been legalised by the government. The remaining one million, she said, either had no work permits or had their permits rejected by the Immigration Department.

In June last year, the government started its 6P amnesty programme to register and legalise illegal foreign workers already in the country. With the large number of workers still not yet settled by the Immigration Department, the Home Ministry has decided to extend its Jan 10 amnesty deadline to April 10.

It is expected that a crackdown against undocumented migrant workers will commence after this date is up. According to the Home Ministry, 94,856 migrants have been deported back to their home countries thus far. - FMT

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