KUALA LUMPUR (July 21): Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has announced that he will proceed with his defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for claiming that Muhyiddin had lied about settling RM8.3 billion in Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlers’ debt.

In a statement on Facebook Thursday night (July 20), Muhyiddin said that because Anwar had failed to issue an open and unconditional apology to him, he has instructed his lawyers to commence with filing the suit against Anwar. 

On July 18, Muhyiddin, through his lawyers Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership (RDS) had issued a letter of demand, wherein Anwar was given 24 hours to apologise or face a lawsuit. 

“Because Anwar has failed to present an open and unconditional apology within 24 hours as stated in my letter of demand to him, I therefore have instructed my lawyer to continue with the defamation suit against him,” he said. 

Muhyiddin sent the letter of demand because of statements Anwar made, alleging that Muhyiddin’s administration did not implement his promise to write off RM8.3 billion in loans granted to Felda settlers. 

After Muhyiddin’s letter, Anwar on Thursday shared documents to the public and media that he had signed and executed agreements to waive Felda settlers' debt. 

However, in Muhyiddin’s statement, he claimed that Anwar had shared documents regarding a sukuk bond and not Felda settlers' debt. He added that Anwar was not telling the truth. 

“The document Anwar signed is regarding sukuk and not the Felda debt waiver. The disclosure of the document proves I was telling the truth and Anwar had defamed me,” Muhyiddin said, adding that Anwar is not fit to be prime minister, labelling him as “incompetent”. 

Prior to this, Anwar claimed that under the Perikatan Nasional government’s 2021 and 2022 national budgets, zero allocation was made to resolve and dispose of Felda’s debts. 

On June 28, Anwar had signed an agreement involving a government guarantee for Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) to restructure the agency's loans through the issuance of sukuk and revolving credit, in an effort to restore the agency's finances and enable it to continue to waive some RM8.3 billion worth of settlers' loans.

According to the Finance Ministry, of which Anwar is minister, a large part of this Felda loan restructuring will involve a reduction of Felda's debt principal with financial institutions by RM7.9 billion.

The move will also reduce Felda's financial cost against interest rates imposed and enable Felda to cancel 80% of the settler's debt amounting to RM8.3 billion that was implemented in 2021, it said.

This means that the waiver of the settler's debts, which Putrajaya previously announced in February this year it had halted due to Felda's cash flow problems, would continue.

At the time, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Azalina Othman had informed Parliament via a written reply that the government would not be able to carry on writing off Felda settler's loans any longer as it had made a huge impact on Felda's cash flow. The waiver of the Felda settler's debt was first announced in July 2021 by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.