SHAH ALAM, Dec 8 — Amanah central committee member Datuk Mazlan Aliman cautioned the government today against selling FGV Holdings Bhd to tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.
He said selling FGV to a third party would amount to betraying Felda settlers and will cost the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition greatly in the 15th general election (GE15).
“Out of 54 Felda areas, it was the 19 Felda areas that helped deliver PH’s win in GE14.
“I want to remind the government that, if the move made by this third party (Syed Mokhtar) succeeds, the PH government will be accused of being a traitor to Felda settlers,” Mazlan said during his rounding-up speech at the party’s 4th National Convention held at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) here.
Mazlan was among the chief opponents to the formation of FGV under the previous Barisan Nasional administration.
The Edge previously reported that Syed Mokhtar was planning to buy a 20 per cent stake in FGV.
According to the report, Syed Mokhtar’s men have been meeting financial institutions to raise the RM1 billion or so needed for the acquisition.
Mazlan also claimed the Felda board will meet Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad tomorrow.
“I have already written a letter to the Felda president Tan Sri Mohd Bakke (Mohd Bakke Salleh) to defend and prevent these assets from falling into the hands of this third-party stakeholder.
“I want to plead with Dr Mahathir’s leadership, to not allow this third-party stakeholder to take over FGV and return the land to Felda settlers,” he said.
Since Mazlan was appointed as the chairman of the Farmers Organisation Authority (FOA) in October 2018, he said he has been reminding the government to return the land to Felda settlers.
“But until today, nothing has been done and instead I found out about this discussion to sell FGV stakes to a third party,” he said.
FGV (formerly Felda Global Ventures Holdings) had been the investment arm of the land authority but was spun off controversially in 2012 when then-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak pushed for it to be listed on Bursa Malaysia.
