21/12/2012 (Bernama) - Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reminded Felda settlers not to be easily influenced by instigation and provocations by quarters with intention to create problems and cause a rift among them.

He said the actions of these irresponsible quarters were politically motivated and aimed at jeopardising the credibility of Felda and also the government.

"Lately, many issues have been raised by certain quarters with the intention to confuse and create a rift between Felda settlers or the local community," he said at the "Semai Bakti Felda 2012" function here Wednesday night.

He said this was despite them realising Felda's role in the country's social economic development.

Various programmes that were carried out had successfully helped to improve the quality of life of Felda settlers, he added.

Muhyiddin said the approach taken by Felda by going down to meet the grassroots should be enhanced to avoid other quarters from taking advantage of the Felda settlers.

He said among the significant achievements by Felda was the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) last June, which was the second largest in the world after Facebook.

He said FGV, which was now Malaysia's main palm oil producer, had business networking in countries like the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, China, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, France and Turkey.

At the function, Muhyiddin also presented the Semai Bakti medal to 18 people for their contributions to Felda. Each of them received Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF) shares, worth RM5,000 each.

Four Felda staff were named Best Managers and were awarded RM5,000 of the KPF shares and a certificate each.