Puncak Niaga boss eyes foray into politics

Corporate figure Rozali Ismail has expressed his intention to venture into politics by setting up a new party to represent today’s generation of settlers, especially from Felda.

The Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd executive chairman said the intention cropped up after the Felda Generation Vision Alliance (GWGF) annual general meeting yesterday tabled a motion for the alliance to study the possibility of setting up an “All Malaysian Felda Family” party which would become the voice of the settlers’ community.

“This motion will be tabled to the GWGF top management council next week because we have 17 associations under GWGF to discuss carefully whether it can be implemented for the benefit of the Felda community and the labour group in Malaysia,” he told reporters.

He said the proposed party would be based on the labour party because the majority of Felda residents were in this group, adding that the setting up of the party was aimed at ensuring the welfare of the labourers who generally have low and moderate incomes.

“I feel the problems faced by today’s generation of Felda are due to the implementation of many programmes which failed to achieve their objectives, such as the listing of Felda and the introduction of Felda as a food bank, as well as its multi-million investments abroad,” he said.

Rozali said the unfair terms and conditions of the replanting agreement and unsettled labour issues that burdened the Felda community should be a starting point for GWGF to set up a new party to represent the voice of the settlers.

“There are 54 parliamentary constituencies where the majority of the voters are Felda settlers.

“As the GWGF president, I have been asked to contest, especially in the constituency that I helped develop, namely Felda Bukit Cerakah in Kuala Selangor which is now known as Bandar Baru Puncak Alam,” he added.