LABIS: It is the former Barisan Nasional administration that laid the foundation to settle the debts of Felda settlers and not the Perikatan Nasional government, says former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

       Najib claimed that during his tenure as prime minister, his Cabinet had deliberated ways to settle the debts of Felda settlers, and these efforts were continued by Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, when he was appointed as Felda chairman in May 2020.

       Najib also criticised former premier Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for claiming credit for settling the loans of Felda settlers.

       "He (Muhyiddin) accused me of destroying Felda? Now he wants to claim credit, saying that it was him who settled the debts of Felda settlers? I want to tell everyone here that it was Umno's efforts that settled the debts of Felda settlers," said Najib.

       He said the efforts began during his time as prime minister, and was continued by Idris and added that one of the methods is to consolidate the accounts of settlers.

       "Only after that, the decision to settle Felda settler loans could be announced. It was a coincidence that Muhyiddin was the prime minister and that is why he announced it," said Najib during an event at Felda Redong in Labis on Thursday (March 10).

       In July last year, Muhyiddin announced that the government agreed to waive a portion of Felda settlers’ debt worth RM8.3bil under a conditional loan initiative.

       Under this initiative, Muhyiddin had said that loan repayments will be reduced by an average of 80% for each settler.

       Under the conditional loan adjustment, there will be a partial adjustment for the balance of the replanting loan exercise worth RM8bil as at Dec 2019, which will benefit 92,441 settlers, or 82% of the total 112,638 settlers.

       At the same time, Najib also criticised Muhyiddin for claiming credit for the construction of a trading centre for Felda settlers in Gambir.

       "Three days ago I was at Gambir, I drove past a building that was constructed by Barisan. Suddenly, there was a big picture of "abah" (Muhyiddin) there, with a tagline of 'our hero'. That building was built by Barisan and he is claiming to be the hero? The same goes for the debts of Felda settlers," said Najib

       Najib also told Felda settlers that as crude palm oil (CPO) price recently peaked, Felda settlers are making up to RM12,000 a month.

       "Even those with old palm oil trees are making at least RM5,000 a month. These are all Barisan's efforts," said Najib.

       The public debate on Felda heated up when Perikatan information chief Datuk Seri Azmin Ali dared Najib into a debate on the matter.

       Najib later challenged Muhyiddin to a debate on Felda issues and said Azmin can assist the Pagoh MP with it.

       However, Muhyiddin later declined to debate Najib, saying that he was confident that the Pekan MP will fail to respond to Perikatan's success in addressing Felda issues.

       Johor has 73 Felda settlements and this covers about 13 Parliamentary seats and 21 state constituencies.

       The 13 Parliamentary seats consists of Segamat, Sekijang, Labis, Pagoh, Ledang, Simpang Renggam, Sembrong, Mersing, Tenggara, Kota Tinggi, Pengerang, Tebrau and Kulai.

       During GE14 in 2018, Pakatan defeated Barisan in Segamat, Sekijang, Labis, Ledang, Simpang Renggam, and Tebrau.

       In 2018, Barisan retained five Felda parliamentary seats - Sembrong, Tenggara, Kota Tinggi, Mersing and Pengerang.