SLIM RIVER, July 7 — Felda is a successful institution which has undertaken prudent investment for the well-being of the people but has been accused of being bankrupt by those who are bankrupt of ideas, morals and the principles of struggle, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today.
The prime minister said those who had accused Felda of being bankrupt had made unfounded and wild accusations as well as committed falsehood.
“We have invested RM4 billion; we were neither lavish in our spending nor did we misappropriate. We invested for the well-being of the settlers,” he said at the launch of the 2010 Settlers Day at the compound of the Felda Mara Junior Science College Tun Abdul Razak campus in Sungkai near here.
More than 10,000 settlers from Felda land schemes nationwide were present at the biggest Settlers Day yet.
Najib said those who made the accusations did not understand the principles of accounting and business.
“What is bankrupt? Felda alone has RM1.3 billion cash. Felda invested in shares and bought them for RM844 million. Today, it has grown five-fold. Can we become bankrupt?” he said.
Najib said Felda purchased equity in big companies such as MISC and Maybank, which are listed on Bursa Malaysia, and could garner RM4.6 billion if it sold the shares.
He said a conservative estimate of the sale value of Felda-owned commercial plantations was RM10 billion.
The prime minister said Felda’s development plans were for the long term, and it had invested in the United States and Canada to penetrate the global market in the effort to step up marketing of its products to help raise palm oil prices.
He said Felda had spent RM2.4 billion on replanting.
“If the trees are old, how can we get the (oil palm) fruits or the (rubber) latex?” he asked.
On the project to build the new Menara Felda, Najib said even selling the land bought for the project would bring in much profit, and indicated that the building site would be in no other place than on prime land beside the Petronas Twin Towers in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
Najib drew the attention of the settlers to the question of whether a bankrupt would be able to pay “zakat” (tithe), and said Felda had paid RM26 million in tithes last year to the state governments.
He said those who accused Felda of being bankrupt were bankrupt of ideas and the principles of struggle, adding that even their elected representatives had left the party.
The prime minister then opened the Felda Mara Junior Science College and named the RM120-million most modern and sophisticated of the Mara junior science colleges as the Felda Mara Junior Science College Tun Abdul Razak Campus. — Bernama
