FGV’s allowance increment unreasonable and inappropriate – Young Syefura

SHAH ALAM – Felda and the government’s approval to increase FGV Chairman's allowance by RM180,000 as members of the public are the rising cost of living is unreasonable and inappropriate, Pahang assemblywoman says.

DAP central executive committee member Young Syefura Othman said the increase in allowances rate for the FGV chairman and its board members was not justified despite FGV’s performance was now recovering from the problems it faced before and starting to post profits.

“Through a document I have obtained in connection with the decision of the meeting held today, the shareholders of FGV have approved the proposals related to the amendment to increase the allowance rate of the Chairman and other board members which totalled to six people as I shared yesterday.

“Through the amendment, the monthly allowance received by the chairman now amounts to RM 480,000.00 per year or RM40,000.00 per month while for other board members, the monthly allowance received amounts to RM 150,000.00 per year or RM12,500.00 per month for a board member.

“The total allowance approved for FGV board members in the meeting this evening was RM1.38 million, not including other committee allowances,” she said in a statement, today.

She said the increment had also made the allowances received by the chairman and board members of the company higher than other government-linked companies such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Telekom Malaysia and Petronas Chemical Group.

She questioned how could the government through Felda, as the largest stakeholder in FGV, allowed such a dramatic increase from RM25,000 per month to RM40,000.00 per month when the people, including the settlers were having a hard time with the increasing cost of living.

“Even the settlers have to bear other costs such as the cost of pesticides and fertilisers as well as maintenance costs which are now increasing,” she added.

She added that the general meeting should revolve around the welfare of settlers as FGV’s largest stakeholder, who by right should be the ones receiving high benefits due to the result of the profits recorded by the company.

She further said FGV should be more sensitive since the money used for the allowance increase could be given to the settlers to help them improve their well-being, instead of used by the chairman and board members to fill up their pockets.

Yesterday, the Ketari assemblywoman had shared FGV’s AGM notice, highlighting the proposed allowance increment for the chairman and directors.

PKR members and Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim had also reportedly said that during FGV’s annual general meeting, five out of the nine agenda items on the agenda were on proposals for the board’s allowance, calling the move as a betrayal to the settlers.