In the name of loyalty

Times may have changed but for many oil palm growers in Johor, their lives are about football and fishing, plus the party that gave them Felda.

IN 1976, Mohd Noor Hussin quit his job as a health department officer in Batu Pahat to join the Ulu Tebrau Felda settlement – the pioneers who had balik kampung told him life was easy on the settlement.

“You have money, food and a house,” said the first generation Felda settler.

In the Ulu Tebrau Felda settlement, Mohd Noor received 10 acres of jungle land covered by trees as big as his outstretched hands. He also received a wooden house (worth about RM28,000).

Felda had cut the trees and planted oil palm. His job was to cultivate his plantation. He also had to pay Felda RM130 a month. The settlement, about 35km from Johor Baru, was a self-contained township. Mohd Noor did not have to worry about his daily supplies.

“I would just go to the Felda-run grocery store. I would take sugar, flour, Milo, coffee and rice and then sign in a notebook,” he said.

At the end of the month, Felda would deduct the grocery purchases from his earnings at the oil plantation and his allowance.

Mohd Noor recounted the “heavy duty” work that he put in.

“I had to carry oil palm fruits weighing 50kg,” he said.

His income varied. In the early days, it could be RM5 or kosong (nothing) after deductions. It also depended on the price of palm oil.

After studying the system for three years, Mohd Noor, 69, quit the programme. He now runs his own plantation. In his 42 years living in the Felda settlement, he said he has seen the ups and downs of the settlers.

“I have seen settlers become rich – their wooden houses changed to concrete homes – from owning bicycles to cars. I’ve seen their children becoming university graduates. But I’ve also seen some falling deep into debt as they could not manage their finances,” he said.

The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) was set up in 1956 to elevate the income of mostly poor Malays. Felda opened up largely uninhabited frontier areas so that the settlers could make a living through agriculture.

The settlers were allocated plots of cleared land, a house, and technical know-how to cultivate oil palm and rubber. They were given credit for agricultural venture and were paid an allowance until they could reap the fruits of their labour, after which they would repay their loans.

It is estimated that about 1.2 million voters live or work in Felda settlements.

One reason Umno has done well in Johor, said Francis E. Hutchinson in his paper “GE14 in Johor: The Fall of the Fortress?” is “the phenomenal scale and success of the Felda programme in the state”.

“The party has a branch within every plantation, enabling it to maintain a high-profile presence and monitor local-level developments. Umno is also interwoven into the governing structures of the plantations. For many Felda settlers, the party has become ‘interchangeably recognised as the government’,” wrote Hutchinson.

“Furthermore, due to high levels of indebtedness, settlers are vulnerable to changes in government policy – making them a captive vote bank. Consequently, Felda members have voted overwhelmingly for BN over the years.”

In GE13, Barisan Nasional won 85% of the 54 parliamentary seats that have Felda settlements.

Last year, Felda’s subsidiary Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGV) had a management crisis. FGV share prices dropped as well.

Hutchinson said this might reduce support for Barisan in Johor but it was “unlikely to translate into the loss of a significant number of seats”.

Most of the settlers are loyal to Umno, said Mohd Noor.

“They think if Umno loses, the Malays will be finished. They said if Umno loses, the Chinese will take over,” he said.

This stance was especially obvious with those from his generation.

His friend, Ghazali Jamion, a 57-year-old second generation Felda settler, agreed.

“The main conversation among the settlers in this warung (coffee shop) is about football, fishing and their daily life. Many of them are not interested in politics. They don’t follow national issues such as 1MDB. They are quite content with their lives,” he said.

Mohd Noor, however, noticed that since the formation of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia in 2016, there were some settlers – mostly from the second and third generation – who are receptive to voting for the Opposition.

“There is a growing number of settlers who are not happy with how Felda is run,” said Ghazali.

But the inclination of most Felda voters, according to Mohd Noor and Ghazali, is that they will remain loyal to the ruling government.