NO Cabinet ministers objected to FGV Holdings Bhd’s (FGV) listing when the idea was deliberated in 2012, according to former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“No one in the Cabinet objected or even voiced concerns with FGV’s listing. In fact, all the ministers then supported it due to the benefits it will bring to the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlers.
“For further information, one can check the Cabinet meeting minutes,” he said in a Facebook post.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claimed that he disagreed with Najib’s proposal to list FGV back in 2012 as Felda officers and settlers were against it.
“When it got listed under FGV, I was in the Cabinet. I told the then-Prime Minister that I did not agree.
“The share price at the time was RM4.50, if I am not mistaken, but now it has fallen to RM1.28,” he was reported saying at an event with Pagoh residents at Felda Sri Jaya, Bukit Serampang.
At the time of the listing, Muhyiddin was serving as Najib’s deputy. He was later given the boot by the latter in 2015 after fallout on how the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal was being dealt by the Government.
Cabinet meetings minutes are classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 and only the Government has the authority to declassify the documents.
While Najib acknowledged that its parent company Felda suffered losses later on, FGV started making profits in 2017.
“But after Pakatan Harapan won the last general election, the low-definition minister tasked to manage Felda started playing up propaganda and nosedived the value of assets belonging to Felda.
“Last year, Pakatan announced that Felda lost RM6 bil in 2017. Don’t tell me Felda’s expenses surged five times in 2017 compared to the previous years?” he asked.
The Pekan MP claimed that Felda’s financial problems started back during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as the fourth Prime Minister when the latter decided to no longer provide yearly funding to the establishment and urged Felda to source its own funding.
“Felda’s biggest problem in 2012 was 50% of its oil palm trees were categorised as too old and of low yield.
“Plus, the second generation and third generation settlers were no longer interested to continue with their forefathers work.
“So, if we didn’t find a solution to the problems, Felda would cease to exist in 20 years-time,” Najib said.
So when FGV was established, he said that the former was tasked to replant, improve infrastructure and take care of new oil palm trees belonging to Felda.
Najib added that by spending RM600 mil a year on the said measures on over 15,000 hectares of land annually, FGV managed to reduce the old oil palm trees from 53% to 30% this year.
“And for the first time in many years, we have higher percentage of young and prime trees,” he added. – Dec 14, 2020
