30,000 FELDA SETTLERS THRONG CARNIVAL
Chairman officiates soft launch of exclusive ATMs for communities
THE “Ekspresi Felda Negaraku Malaysia Carnival” kicked off in style as 30,000 Felda settlers converged on Dataran Putrajaya for the Felda Settlers Day celebration.
There are tents and exhibition booths, with the main stage decorated with colourful flower pots valued at RM90,000.
Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad visited main exhibition booths yesterday.
He officiated the soft launch of the Finnet payroll card and autoteller machines (ATMs), a FinTech system specially developed for the Felda communities.
“We have a lot of settlements in the remote areas. Felda Gua Musang, for instance, is 70km from town.
“As such, we need to embrace financial technology (FinTech) to make things easier for the Felda communities,” he said at D’Mart booth yesterday.
Shahrir said banks were uninterested in setting up ATMs or branches in Felda settlements because of their remote locations.
For the initial stage, 30 Finnet ATMs will be placed at selected D’Mart stores.
D’Mart, owned by Felda Trading Sdn Bhd, operates exclusively in Felda settlements.
“It functions like a debit card,” said Finnet business development
director Norhan Manaf.
“Our settlers can use it anywhere outside Felda settlements. The charges are the same as debit cards issued by banks when they withdraw money from other ATMs.”
The three-day carnival serves as a platform to instil love for Felda among its second-generation settlers.
It is filled with information on Felda, including the involvement of non-Malay settlers in the land scheme, which many are unaware of.
Felda targeted more than 50,000 visitors at the carnival, double the crowd size at the Felda Settlers Day celebration in Jengka, Pahang, last year.
Among the activities lined up
at the carnival are sale and exhibitions of products from the small- and medium-sized enterprises, food trucks and the “Explore Felda with Upin and Ipin” programme.
The first day of the carnival saw activities that included a futsal tournament involving 54 parliamentary constituencies with Felda settlements and a religious forum.
Among the programmes on the second day are “fun run”, Zumba, an auto show, a Transformasi Nasional 2050 talk programme, zapin and dikir barat competitions, as well as the “Ekspresi Negaraku” concert, which will see performances by local artistes who come from Felda settlements.