RM1.6 Bilion For Felda Settler Development – Najib

LABIS, Jan 18 – Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced an allocation of RM1.6 billion for the Felda settler community’s development nationwide in 2011. Speaking at a leader’s gathering with settlers at the Chemplak Felda scheme here, the prime minister also announced a RM8.5 million allocation from Felda for an infrastructural development programme involving 500 housing lots to be given to the second generation of Felda setters, whereby each lot would be allocated RM17,000. “This is not a fantasy or an unrealtistic promise…(like) of late, freely made by the opposition. “This is an extraordinary record of achievements from the efforts undertaken and the results can be seen today. Success changes the living conditions of this group of people who were fortunate to be chosen as Felda settlers and under the aegis of our government, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government,” he said. Najib said the allocation showed Felda as an institution that was strong financially and administratively, thus proving that the opposition’s allegation that Felda was bankrupt was a dirty tactic to confuse the settlers and general public. He said Felda had undergone an aggressive transformation process that had managed to change the country’s socio-economic landscape, especially for the rural community in a wholesome and effective manner. The prime minister said with the Felda settlers’ household monthly income reaching more than RM3,000, they no longer formed part of the 40 per cent of people with low incomes, but were now categorised in the moderate-income group. “This development is significant in that, when we were drawing up the New Economic Model, we had defined the low-income group as those earning RM2,300 and below monthly, based on the country’s per capita income. “But when I learnt that the Felda settlers here and elsewhere in the country were getting more than RM3,000 monthly, it means they are no longer among the 40 per cent of Malaysians earning low incomes. Today, the Felda settler community is officially in the country’s moderate-income group,” he said. Therefore, Najib, said, it was the duty of all settlers not only to remember the past and be grateful for the benefits they had enjoyed, but also to ensure that what they had sowed and nurtured would continue to flourish to bring greater benefits to the whole Felda community and country. Najib who arrived in Labis in a helicopter at 9.30am, had earlier visited the Chemplak Barat Felda scheme and launched the Community Broadband Centre and futsal court there before having breakfast with the settlers.