54 BN seats in Felda areas now under threat due to FGV
(FMT) – The missteps in the listing of Felda Global Ventures and its eventual decline in price affecting thousands of settlers is being capitalised by Pakatan Harapan.
The state of affairs affecting Felda Global Ventures shares over the past five years now risks costing the government the fixed deposit of votes that had helped it win 54 out of its 86 parliamentary seats in the last general election (GE13).
That is due to these 54 seats having Felda plantations, with thousands of Felda settlers and their children, who had made the initial investment in FGV shares now seeing it worth about half the original listing price, The South China Morning Post reported.
With rumours that a delisting will only further undermine the trust of many first- and second-generation Felda settlers in the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, the report said it could prove to be the chink in the armour of the Barisan Nasional in the Malay heartland.
FGV was listed on Bursa Malaysia on May 2012 amid a lot of hype but it soon fizzled with the price gradually tumbling. Only a management reshuffle earlier this year saw some respite, with the price of the stock gaining back some ground.
According to the Hong Kong-based daily, the political disillusionment was most evident in a by-election held in Najib’s home state of Pahang in May 2015.
The Rompin by-election was held following the death of former Umno minister Jamaluddin Jarjis in a helicopter crash.
While Jamaluddin had won the seat with a 15,114-majority in GE13, the BN candidate from Umno in the by-election took the seat, which was previously considered a BN fortress based on its Felda population, with only a 8,895 vote majority.
Two of the 16 polling districts, even showed the PAS candidate had received more votes than BN. It was the first time in history a district in a Felda constituency had not backed the BN candidate from Umno.
The SCMP report points to the dissatisfaction in Felda areas towards the Umno-led government being the result of the Najib administration’s own missteps in taking FGV public.