KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had indeed pledged in 2021 to waive billions in Felda settlers’ debt, the agency’s chairman confirmed today.
Responding to Muhyiddin’s insistence that he already absolved the debt, however, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the former prime minister never followed through, leaving Felda liable for over RM9 billion from its sukuk issuance.
“Previously, when Tan Sri was the PM, you said the government would give (Felda) RM1 billion each year for 10 years. This should have started in 2022, but it didn’t happen. It never came to fruition.
“It was only promised, not implemented. Because there was no formal document with Felda to help settle its debt,” Ahmad Shabery said on Facebook today.
Instead, it was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s national unity government that followed through with the arrangement, he said,
The Anwar government both formalised the debt restructuring and committed to paying Felda up to RM1 billion yearly for the next decade to ensure its liabilities could be cleared, Ahmad Shabery said.
Yesterday, national news agency Bernama reported that the federal government had approved an annual allocation of RM1 billion per year for the next decade to ensure Felda’s survival, wiping out settlers’ debt from the 2012 listing of FGV Holdings in in the process.
The announcement upset Muhyiddin, who claimed today that he was the one responsible for waiving the settlers’ debt and that Anwar was lying to claim credit.
Anwar said earlier that while Muhyiddin’s administration had agreed to the plan, it never put it into action as no funds were allocated in Budget 2021 and Budget 2022.
Instead, the PM said it was only when he tabled Budget 2023 that the funds were finally made available to Felda.
