Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad has confirmed that he is resigning from his position as Felda chairman, and that he has sent in his resignation letter to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

In a statement, Shahrir said his resignation — effective today — was done considering he "was appointed as Felda chairman by the previous government" led by Barisan Nasional (BN).

"It is appropriate for me to let go of the position in the institution, which is now led by a new government," said Shahrir, who used to be member of parliament for BN in Johor Bahru. Shahrir was among the BN candidates who were defeated by Pakatan Harapan (PH) representatives in the general election that took place on Wednesday (May 9).

The vote resulted in BN experiencing its first-ever loss at federal level in the 14th general election on Wednesday, after it failed to secure a simple majority of 122 seats of the 222 parliament seats up for grab. BN only secured wins in 79 seats against 113 by the Dr Mahathir-led PH coalition.

In the statement, Shahrir went on to outline improvements towards the administration and management of Felda which were introduced during his tenure as chairman since Feb 6, 2017.

"Among steps taken [to improve governance] is to appoint different chairman for different Felda subsidiaries. Apart from that, no politician has been appointed as a board member in the subsidiaries.

"Felda investment committee was also activated to ensure business and investment decisions including asset disposal were done properly and transparently," said Shahrir.

Shahrir also pointed to the success of Felda in getting back the ownership of 16 plots of lands along Jalan Semarak previously lost to developer of the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project in 2016, adding that a special committee has been set up to negotiate better terms for the KLVC project.

Additionally, Shahrir said that under his tenure, some 105,294 settlers have regained confidence towards "Felda's management system" and returned to the agency between August 2017 and May 2018.

He also highlighted the restructuring of Felda settlers' debt — RM5,000 debt reduction on replanting programmes plus an additional RM30,000 replanting grant for each settler, which has helped reduced replantation debt among settlers by 70%.

"Loans to purchase FGV shares were also abolished, ringgit to ringgit," he added.

Other improvements he outlined include a more systematic payout method to settlers, a programme to build some 20,000 units of affordable housing in Felda areas, disposal of non-core assets in Felda to streamline its operations, and the introduction of Felda 2.0 — a concept to upgrade facilities in Felda areas to match those in the cities.

"Ten Felda sites have been selected to be developed as Felda 2.0 between 2018 and 2019," said Shahrir.

"I thank all Felda members for your support and cooperation during my service as chairman of Felda in our effort to bring Felda back on track," he added.

 

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