— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 15, 2012

MAY 15 — Readers who are interested in reading more vigorous analyses on FGVH are advised to read The Pirates of Putrajaya in the English language here and in Bahasa Malaysia here. I am offering a less rigorous analysis here as I feel not as competent as the Pirate in technical matters.

Here is what irks me and I hope it does others too. FELDA settlers have given nothing but each FELDA household is promised and given RM15,000 each. For what? In return for a promise to vote UMNO and BN in the next elections? And a gnome of the FELDA chairman says it’s not corruption. The RM15,000 must be called as what it really is: the price of each settler as seen by the PM. It’s bloody corruption.

If not, how do you explain why the PM gives out the 15,000? Does he do it for purely philanthropic reasons?

What is it that FGVH offers for sale? Remember, as the Koperasi Permodalan FELDA hasn’t parted with its 51 per cent, what FGVH offers to the public is its 49 per cent interest in FELDA Holdings. It can’t and doesn’t have the capacity to offer 100 per cent of FELDA Holdings. But you can be sure the PM and his macais are rounding up the deep-pocketed boys and telling them: don’t worry boys, we will chop off the heads of the KPF leaders one by one. We will deliver you 100 per cent of FELDA Holdings.

Or perhaps we haven’t uncovered yet the devilish plans they have in store for the 51 per cent which KPF owns in FELDA Holdings?

It’s shortchanging the investing public when it can only offer 49 per cent of its interest in FELDA Holdings and their valueless businesses abroad which did not make money anyway.

Now, FELDA holdings is a different cattle of fish. It is one of Malaysia’s largest, and most diversified agro-based enterprises which run the commercial business related to the Federal Land and Development Authority (FELDA), and the vast 880,000-hectare plantation land bank associated with it. It owns 360,000 hectares of land directly and manages 520,000 hectares of land belonging to settlers.

FELDA Holdings became a public company on October 3, 2003. Today, its total capitalisation exceeds RM5 billion with RM220 million in paid-up capital. It employs a dedicated workforce of almost 19,000 employees, complemented by a labour force of 46,795 workers at some 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.

Its assets include more than 50 active subsidiaries, associated companies and joint-venture companies. It provides technical advice and support to the FELDA Group. It has facilities to process rubber and cocoa products, manufacture fertilisers as well as operate several successful auxiliary businesses. Among these are IT, engineering, security, storage and logistic services.

It also does business at the international level; it supplies eight per cent of world palm oil in 2009. It has joint-venture partnerships with large multinationals such as Procter & Gamble and Iffco. It has growing interests in businesses in the United States, Canada, Australia, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

But the most important thing to remember is this: FGVH holds only 49 per cent of all these. But they have an important partner in crime — the holder of the one golden share. The Ministry of Finance.

The non-FELDA citizens of this country do not get any cash handouts. But they have the same stature as FELDA settlers who have given nothing to Umno and the government. So, they deserve the same cash handouts as settlers do. Why should the settlers be treated any differently? If ordinary citizens are wrongly treated they should respond the only decent way they can — by not voting in this corrupt government.

The minister in charge of FELDA is going ahead with the listing of FGVH. He has called those who opposed the listing as accursed bastards — haram jadah. He has described them as thick-skinned if they take the RM15,000 inducement. By doing so, he has displayed his inherent nature which I have been saying all this while — that Najib solves problems by paying his way through. He is not a leader who inspires the citizens with ideas and ideals.

There is a vast and barren void that lies between his ears. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).