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    Addressing the Felda Conundrum in Pakatan Harapan’s First White Paper

    Pakiam, Geoffrey K. | March 2019
    Abstract
    Once the crown jewel of Malaysia’s rural development drive, the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda)’s settler schemes are now approaching an inflection point. Years of gross corporate mismanagement, depreciating farm assets, and indifferent commodity prices have strangled the organisation’s cash flow to the point where it claims it can no longer afford to pay its settlers, staff and contractors on time. To help stave off Felda’s apparent looming bankruptcy, Malaysia’s new Pakatan Harapan-dominated parliament is due to table a much-anticipated White Paper before mid-April 2019, proposing strategic solutions to Felda’s current malaise. Settler representatives hope that the federal authorities will generously favour Felda settlers, turn back the clock, write off a large amount of settler debt, and help the group reclaim key assets now under the purview of FGV Holdings Bhd (FGV). Post-GE14, the Pakatan-led government, however, is saddled with broader responsibilities that complicate responses to Felda’s current woes. These include obligations to FGV’s new management and institutional shareholders, which besides Felda and related agencies (who together hold 38.8 percent of FGV’s shares), extend to statutory Islamic investment fund Lembaga Tabung Haji (7.78 per cent), public sector pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraaan (Diperbadankan) (7.83 per cent) and the state governments of Pahang (5 percent) and Sabah (4.07 per cent). Some form of compromise between different sectoral interests is virtually guaranteed, and will involve federal funding in one form or another. Paradoxically, this tricky situation comes just when Pakatan is facing an unprecedented opportunity to win the hearts and minds of rural Malay voters; an opportunity that may not be on offer again for some time.
    Citation
    Pakiam, Geoffrey K.. 2019. Addressing the Felda Conundrum in Pakatan Harapan’s First White Paper. © ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/9814.
    ISSN
    2335-6677
    Keywords
    Regional Development Finance
    Public Scrutiny of City Finances
    Non-Bank Financial Institutions
    Local Government Finance
    Government Financial Institutions
    Foreign and Domestic Financing
    Financial Risk Management
    Assessing Corporate Governance
    Good Governance
    Governance Approach
    Finance
    Public Finance
    Governance
    National Budget
    Budgetary Policy
    Educational Budget
    Public Financial Management
    Financial System
    Financial Statistics
    Public Accounting
    Business Financing
    Subsidies
    Social Equity
    Economic Equity
    Project Risks
    Project Impact
    Public Administration
    Corporations
    Taxation
    Public Debt
    Local Government
    Debt Management
    Corporate debt
    Taxation
    Public Accounting
    National Budget
    Municipal Bonds
    Local Government
    Taxation
    Public Debt
    Local Government
    Debt Management
    Pension Funds
    Mutual Funds
    Social Equity
    Financial Aspects
    Fiscal Policy
    Investment Requirements
    Banks
    |Taxing power
    Tax administration and procedure
    Tax policy
    Effect of taxation on labor supply
    Decentralization in government
    Community power
    Corporate divestment
    Civil government
    Delegation of powers
    Equality
    Neighborhood government
    Subnational governments
    Delivery of government services
    Local taxation
    Options
    Government
    Local government
    Taxation
    Employee pension trusts
    Investment management
    Investments
    Multiemployer pension plans
    Keogh plans
    Individual retirement accounts
    Pension plans
    Employee pension trusts
    Pension trusts
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    Citable URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11540/9814
    Metadata
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    ISEAS_Perspective_2019_17.pdf (472.0Kb)
    Author
    Pakiam, Geoffrey K.
    Theme
    Finance
    Governance
     
    Copyright 2016-2021 Asian Development Bank Institute, except as explicitly marked otherwise
    Copyright 2016-2021 Asian Development Bank Institute, except as explicitly marked otherwise