‘Felda settlers fight fear to back Pakatan’

INTERVIEW The BN may have always considered the 317 settlements under the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) scheme to be its electoral ‘fixed deposit’, but the political landscape may be changing.

Votes cast by the 112,635 settlers could lead to four more states falling to Pakatan Rakyat in the next election, according to PAS-led NGO Anak which has been championing their interests.

Anak president Mazlan Aliman said there are Felda settlements in 54 parliamentary seats and 92 state seats.

“I think this time around there will be some shift, as the mood among settlers may affect states like Pahang, Johor, Negri Sembilan and Terengganu. I don’t want to raise hopes, but there will be a significant shift,” he said.

Even a 5-15 percent shift in political support had been significant in previous elections, Mazlan noted.

In 1990, the fallout from the ‘Team A’ and ‘Team B’ split in Umno had an impact on the Felda vote-bank.

In 1999, following the political ‘persecution’ of Anwar Ibrahim, state seats in Jengka, Chini and Penor were among those that fell into opposition hands.

In 2004 and 2008, rising commodity prices negated any change in political sentiment.

In recent years, however, settlers have been left feeling that they have been shortchanged by Felda in terms of payment for the palm oil produced.

And where Umno is deemed to have failed to fight for Malay settlers’ interests, Pakatan has stepped in with legal assistance that has seen a series of suits being filed with some success against Felda.

A suit involving Felda Kemahang 3 in Kelantan saw its settlers obtaining RM11 million after the Federal Court directed Felda to pay up.

Other suits followed – in Felda Maokil, Labis; Ayer Tawar, Perak; Sungai Koyan, Jengka and Bera in Pahang; and Serting and Jempol in Negri Sembilan.

Mazlan said more than 2,000 people have signed on as plaintiffs to date, and that claims against Felda exceed RM1 billion – a record in the history of the scheme.