The settlers and FELDA staff are members of a rich cooperative, Koperasi Permodalan Felda, which owned 51% of Felda Holdings, with the remaining 49% controlled by FELDA itself. The ownership structure of the business, which was shared between the settlers’ cooperative and FELDA, was changed as well, fundamentally altering the income model of FELDA and the settlers, to facilitate the public listing exercise. The whole FELDA Version.2 model unravelled as a result and affected everyone involved — from the settlers to FELDA to FGV investors as the company significantly reduced its dividend payout. This citizen-authority relationship, be it FELDA and the settlers or the people and the government more generally, needs serious clarification. The FELDA settlers are to be liberated and the settlements integrated into the mainstream, not preserved and mollycoddled in situ as a captive political constituency.

Source: The Edge Markets April 30, 2019 03:33 UTC