Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's appeal for the ‘quantum leap in the fortune of settlers' with the new tagline "Only 1 Felda in the World" is both nostalgic and defining.

To those of us who were fortunate enough to be associated with the social development research at the inception of Felda (Dr Agoes Salim/Professor Milton Barnett and myself), as well as my continued consultancy as the Malaysian Government Consultant to the Regional Master Plans (Johore/Pahang Tenggara) and the lead Consultant to the UNDP study of the Social Impact Assessment of Felda (2002/03), I have to say that Najib's appeal is defining because it is not only urgent, but long overdue.

Indeed it would be a fitting tribute to Abdul Razak himself who had the vision of creating a viable modern agricultural community, to take its place alongside the network of urban industrial complexes that were rapidly being established.

Central to this objective was the allocation of land ownership whereby landless settlers would become land owners owning, operating, and managing their respective land-holdings

However, it is important and timely that Najib should emphasise that this quantum leap should be ‘in the fortune of settlers', because otherwise his call will amount to nothing more than ‘the audacity of hope' for them.

This is because Najib must be fully aware of the numerous critical articles by some of us of the highly bureaucratised Felda structure of administration over the past decades whose policies could best be summed up under the heading ‘pagar makan padi'.

Therefore, unless and until, invoking the powers as the prime minister, Najib himself directly and unilaterally puts in place the development plans for the ‘quantum leap' and appoints consultants (both local and foreign) who have the necessary capacity and capability to restructure Felda, the interests of the settlers is not likely to be achieved as intended.