KUALA LUMPUR Saturday, August 24, 2002( The Star) - The Government ismulling over the possibility of consolidating all Felda land schemes sothat they can be managed professionally as an estate to overcome theproblems of Felda lands being left idle.A study to determine the feasibility of such plan is being carried out bythe Land and Co-operative Development Ministry.The plan is one of several measures being studied to discouragesecond-generation Felda settlers from selling their land.Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said many of the currentgeneration of Felda settlers were not interested in working their land,especially those who were highly educated.“Many children of Felda settlers are highly educated. We can’t expect themto come back and tap rubber or work on their land. We have to think ofways to address this problem otherwise, the land would be left idle orwould be sold off.“Soon, most of Felda land schemes will face this problem. Some settlersallowed foreign workers to work on their land and this will create otherproblems,” he told reporters after opening a special gathering of thesecond generation of Felda settlers at the International IslamicUniversity near here.The land, he said, could yield better returns if it was managed by aprofessional team rather than as individual smallholdings and the higherprofit could be distributed to the settlers.Dr Mahathir said details of the plan, including whether the settlers wouldbe made shareholders of the company that would manage their lands, haveyet to be finalised.There are about 120,000 Felda settlers with a combined land holdingtotalling 447,246ha, of which 324,265ha was planted with palm oil whilethe rest with rubber.Earlier, when addressing the over 4,000 Felda settlers and their children,the Prime Minister advised them against selling their lands for quickprofit.“I understand that having worked so hard, some of you would like to savourthe fruits of your labour by selling your land. The thing is, land is anasset that will remain in your family for generations to come but moneywill disappear very fast, especially if you don’t know how to manage it.“I also know that there are some settlers who bought unnecessary luxurythings including Mercedes Benz cars after selling their land and this is ashame because if they are not careful, there will not be anything left forthe succeeding generation,” he added.Dr Mahathir later launched the Felda Generation Vision Fund for theeducation, training and welfare of the Felda community.