The Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) is disbursing RM200 million worth of dividends to participants of its cluster new planting plan (RTBB) and commercial replanting (TSK) initiative. They are calling on the participants or their next of kin to check their eligibility to claim the dividends.
RISDA chairman Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said the agency could not identify more than 10,000 next of kin of those who had passed away, which caused the dividends to accumulate since 1974.
He added that they will not set any time frame for the family members or the next of kin to claim the dividends. All they need to do is check their eligibility at RISDA state offices.
He said there were some instances where the claimants could not provide the necessary documents, which also contributed to the arrears. “Some had problems providing the documents while others could not prove ownership of land. However, we will try our best to process all claims as fast as we can,” he said.
Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub on Friday announced that more than RM200million worth of dividends under RTBB and TSK were not distributed due to inheritance problem.
He pointed out that the next of kin were still entitled to the dividends even if their parents had died, adding that RISDA had tried to reach out to them via various platforms, including advertisements and mainstream media.
“We do not want to keep the dividends for too long and we want to return them to the settlers,” he was quoted as saying by a Malay daily.
In Kedah, RISDA was tracking down 135 smallholders to pay out dividends accumulated since 1979.
State executive councillor for Information, Rural Development and Poverty Eradication Datuk Mohd Tajudin Abdullah said the group comprised mainly the earliest generation, although it was not known whether they had resettled elsewhere or were still alive.
According to Mohd Tajudin, a total of RM1.299million in dividends were distributed to 830 participants of RISDA schemes in the state on June 11.