The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| The rise of Felda’s global settlers Posted: 30 Dec 2013 11:52 PM PST In less than five decades, the settlers and their descendants successfully emerged out of poverty and Felda earned recognition as a successful key player in Malaysia's poverty eradication efforts. Over the next 50 years Felda wants to take the descendants of the early settlers another step ahead, making their presence felt globally through Felda business settlements throughout the world. Instead of working on plantations, the descendants of Felda's pioneer settlers will be operating Felda's concept stores in major cities of the world. One of the cornerstones of Felda's transformation has been the establishment of the Felda Global Ventures in 2012, a movement that will serve as an effective platform for the organisation's dynamic ventures both locally and globally. "Felda is unique in its own way. Other companies have employees that come and go. Here in Felda, we are a community of two million people who have been continuously loyal to Felda for more than half a century," said Felda's Deputy Director General (Strategic Resources) Muhammad Sufi Mahbub. This community, according to him, has been growing for the past 57 years and Felda now has to look for new approaches to ensure the younger generation of the Felda community will continue to prosper. "The stakes are high. For every step that we take, every action we decide on, every strategy we plan and execute, we are talking about the fate of two million people. Our people," he pointed out. In charting Felda's journey forward, two "protocols" have been lined up to meet the key objectives of the organisation. "Under the brave, aggressive and visionary leadership of Director-General Datuk Faizoull Ahmad, Felda has drafted a new long-term vision for the organisation, known as Felda Golden Protocol (FGP) 2056," explained Sufi. The goal of FGP is to make Felda a Fortune 500 company by the year of 2056. While FGP is a long-term vision, the company has also came up with an interim plan called "Felda Silver Protocol (FSP) 2020" with a deadline aligned with Malaysia's Vision 2020. "The FSP vision is to make Felda an economic powerhouse with its presence felt in many countries and not limited to the agriculture industry only," shared Sufi. Maintaining its tradition, Felda will venture into various geographical locations to tap local economic potentials. "Back then our settlers were sent into the jungles, in middle of nowhere. However, the new generation of Felda settlers will be spread across various cities worldwide, playing the role as 'entreprenomist' that literally means an 'entrepreneur' and 'economist'. "We cannot build new settlements using the Lurah Bilut model anymore, thus the new approach will aim to create 'Felda Global Settlement'. The new version of Lurah Bilut model will be achieved via processes of global economic transmigration", explained Sufi. Lurah Bilut was one of Felda's earliest and highly successful land development schemes. Under this concept, Felda will build its settlements in various cities of the world. Selected settlers will live together, and each family will manage one of Felda's concept store branded as "Savarro". This new concept store will offer three types of products – food and beverages, wellness and tourism products. Savarro stores will be opened in selected locations – San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai and Johannesburg. Other cities in the list are Cairo, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, New York and Vancouver. "In pursuit of new revenue streams to substitute palm oil, we have identified the wellness industry as a possible mega income generator," said Sufi. This new approach will involve around 100 families per settlement, and the approach leverages on the latest technology to ensure smooth communication between the main office and the settlers in foreign lands. "We are targeting to have 20 of these global settlements, which means 2,000 families spread across the world under this programme. As we near 2056, Felda expects to see 300 of such global settlements," said Sufi. Believing in developing the best potential in its people, Felda through its special division, the Felda Transformational Learning (FTL), will prepare the new generation of the settlers to become the pioneers of this project. "FTL is an alternative education programme, to mould the younger generation of Felda as super economic agents who can survive even if we place them in Alaska," stressed Sufi. Under the five-tier framework education programme developed by FTL, participants will be equipped with the right skills and knowledge to carry out Felda's global mission. "Upon completing the fifth tier of framework, the pioneer participants will be able to independently sniff out business opportunities overseas outside Savarro's chain, and make way for their juniors to continue running the Savarro chain they previously operated." This programme which Sufi describes as "the revolution in the new age of evolution" will be officially launched in January 2014. - Bernama, December 31, 2013. |
| Cameroonian’s death highlights Indonesia football crisis Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:13 PM PST The withholding of wages by Indonesian clubs has reached "catastrophic proportions" according to international players' union FIFPro – and Bengondo is the second foreign player known to have died after going unpaid. In 2012 Paraguayan striker Diego Mendieta died of a viral infection after he too was unable to afford treatment, following months without wages. Bengondo arrived in Indonesia in 2005, a promising young footballer who hoped to build a career in Southeast Asia's biggest nation. "He had every chance, he had great hopes," his brother Beliby Ferdinand told AFP this week at the modest house that they used to share, near the capital Jakarta. Bengondo died last month at the age of 32, unable to afford hospital treatment for a mysterious illness. His former club, Persipro Bond-U, still owed him large sums of money, according to his brother and Indonesian football officials. Like many African players, Bengondo came to Indonesia in search of a higher salary. While the wages may not be in the same league as European clubs, Indonesian sides are generally better-paying than those in Africa. He had been so incensed at his treatment that he took to the streets to beg in protest with his African teammates in 2012, apparently with little effect. "The club still did nothing," Ferdinand, 27, said. Brendan Schwab of FIFPro warned the issue of Indonesian clubs failing to pay players had reached "literally catastrophic proportions". "We can't think of a country in the world of football where the problems of the players are more pronounced or more serious than Indonesia," Schwab, head of FIFPro's Asian division, told AFP. It is not just foreign players going unpaid. The Indonesian professional footballers' association (Appi) says 14 clubs in the country's two top-tier divisions still owe salaries from the 2012/2013 season. Bengondo played for several clubs and was signed by Persipro, based in Probolinggo in the east of the main island of Java, for the 2011/12 season. The club is in the Premier Division, the second highest level of football in Indonesia. But according to his brother, Bengondo received only 20 million rupiah (RM5,400) when he started with the club, and nothing afterwards. He was supposed to receive an extra lump sum and 16,625,000 rupiah a month for eight months, according to a copy of his contract seen by AFP. Persipro could not be contacted for comment on Bengondo's case despite repeated attempts by AFP to get in touch with the club. Despite the lack of salary, Bengondo played for the club until the end of the season before returning to the city of Tangerang, outside Jakarta, where he lived with his brother. He was already feeling unwell, suffering from chest pains as well as stomach problems, Ferdinand said. In Tangerang he continued to train with other Cameroonians and eked out a living playing in occasional matches between villages. Towards the end of November, he began feeling increasingly ill and visited a local hospital and later a clinic where he underwent tests and was given medication to help with his stomach problems. As his health deteriorated, he would have liked to seek treatment at a bigger hospital or even return to Cameroon. But he did not have the means, his repeated appeals to Persipro to give him the money he was owed having failed, his brother said. He died in the early hours of November 29. His brother said it is still unclear what exactly he was suffering from and he is waiting for the results of an autopsy. Bengondo's body was flown back to Cameroon earlier this month with funding from the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI). Ferdinand, also a footballer but currently not signed to any club, said he still hoped to claw back the money from Persipro and then return to Cameroon. The Appi is also trying to help. PSSI chairman Djohar Arifin Husin said clubs were suffering funding problems as competition for sponsorship was tough and since 2011 professional teams have been banned from getting local government funding, a vital source of revenue in the past. Attempts to improve players' rights have also been overlooked in recent years as Indonesian football chiefs struggled to resolve a feud between two rival federations, which spawned two top-tier divisions. Both sides agreed in March to reunite under the PSSI after world governing body Fifa warned Indonesia could be banned from international competition. Despite the distractions, Husin insisted the PSSI is trying to resolve the issue of players going unpaid, saying all clubs had been given a deadline of January 15 to pay outstanding salaries or face being banned from competitions. But such commitments are unlikely to reassure Ferdinand after his bitter experience in the world of Indonesian football. "Footballers are not respected in this country," he said. - AFP, December 31, 2013. |
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