Warisan will get Felda to revert to original objectives in Sabah – Shafie

PINANGAH, Kuamut: With a land bank of more than 500,000 acres in Tungku, Lahad Datu, Felda has been raking in an untold amount of profits which rightfully should have belonged to the people of Sabah, according to Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Shafie Apdal.

He said putting right this wrong would be among the priorities of the government should his party win in the forthcoming 14th general elections.

He said Warisan would do its best to get Felda to revert to the original intentions of the agreement, which is that of resettling Sabah’s landless, or return the remaining land.

Speaking to the media after a meet-the-people gathering at Kampung Pinangah, near here, Shafie said he was given to understand that when the State government provided the land to Felda, it was on the understanding that the government linked company would develop it with oil palm and create a resettlement scheme for Sabah’s landless.

"The grand scheme was to cater for 40,000 settlers but since 1979 to 1982, I understand that Felda has only successfully resettled 1,647 settlers, accounting for a mere 25,000 acres of the land,"claimed Shafie.

"The question is what has happened since to the balance portion of the land. Felda has developed the area with oil palm and the profits derived have gone to Kuala Lumpur all these years, hardly benefitting the State.

"By right whatever land that has not been used for the resettlement scheme should have been returned to the Sabah State government. Our state-owned agencies also have the expertise to develop it into oil palm plantations.¨

Shafie was shocked that Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Haji Aman had hardly lifted a finger to fight for what rightfully belongs to the Sabah people.

He said that he had raised the issue in parliament on Wednesday and hoped that the relevant ministry would be able to provide firm answers to his queries and come up with a suitable solution.

The Semporna member of parliament also questioned the price disparity of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) between Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.

FFB in Sabah and the Peninsula both have an oil extraction rate (OER) of 20% yet the price difference is RM68 per tonne simply because it is accorded Grade A in Semenanjung and Grade C in Sabah.

Due to this discrimination, and hence price disparity, Sabah lost a whopping RM133 million in sales tax of 7.5% for just 2017.

Touching on local issues, Shafie said Kuamut like many other rural areas in Sabah experienced land ownership problems and he pledged that within 100 days of coming into power, Warisan would do away with Communal Titles.

"We will instead give individual land titles to the people.¨

At the event graced by 800 people, Shafie received scores of membership application forms from local people who ditched Barisan Nasional component parties in the constituency.

The gathering was organised by Parti Warisan Sabah Kuamut coordinator, Norfaizah Chua, the sister of former Berjaya Assistant Minister, the late Malek Chua.