Felcra explains viral 'yelling COO' clip

Felcra Bhd has posted several videos and photographs on its official Twitter account, in response to a video of its chief operating officer yelling at workers which went viral on social media.

In one of the videos posted by Felcra, a female employee, believed to be one of those yelled at by Felcra COO Khairi Mahamor, was heard saying that such a way of teaching employees was a norm in the plantation industry.

She said only outsiders who do not understand the working style of the industry would make an issue out of the video, when those working within the industry, including female employees, had no problem with it.

"Actually, during the visit he (Khairi) found more unripe (oil palm) fruits than ripe ones, so that was an issue because it means losses.

"That was the only issue. For plantation people, that was the way to give a lesson. 

"For outsiders who do not understand, they would say many things based only on the situation (featured in the video) and the way the COO talked, as they were not there," she said in the 81-second video clip.

The video was posted by Felcra on Tuesday morning, a day after the yelling clip in question was uploaded by a netizen using the Twitter handle @ladydarshankaur.

Read more: Felcra chief says yelling at workers 'the norm' on plantations

The netizen’s video was captioned: “The attitude of a leader who has only been Felcra Bhd’s COO for four months. This is the quality of Pakatan Harapan appointees. See for yourself.”

The 63-second clip showed Khairi holding a metre-long stick, scolding plantation workers about the disposal of used fertiliser bags.

He then went on to reprimand those who supervised the workers for failing to explain how the job should be done.

"Explain! Do not only sit in your office!" he was heard yelling to a female worker.

'No problem being yelled at'

According to Felcra's Twitter post, the incident happened during a visit to a Felcra Bhd project in Kampung Serambi, Pekan, Pahang on Saturday.

In the clip posted by Felcra, the female employee said the issue had been sensationalised by those criticising Khairi for scolding his female employees.

"For us women who work in the plantation, there is no problem being yelled at and such.

"Yelling and such is a norm in plantation work. It is nothing," she said.

In two other tweets, Felcra posted a video and several photographs showing Khairi, who was wearing the same cap and T-shirt as in the viral video clip, teaching employees using a whiteboard.

Captioned "Sisi sebenar COO[...]" (the true image of the COO), the video featured Khairi teaching some calculations in a calm manner.

Among the hashtags that Felcra used for each post was "#reinventingFelcra". 

Bersatu leader Rais Yatim questioned Khairi's behaviour in the video, tweeting: "Is this the way a COO interacts with plantation workers (..)? This is an embarrassment to the race. 

"The Felcra board should give a stern warning so that he learns how to be more civil, or give notice for him to quit (the job)."

Meanwhile, several netizens have come to the defense of the Felcra COO in their comments on Twitter.

"He was angry for a reason. If you find Felda people, many of them have problem with office workers. They only sit doing nothing and claim their paycheck at the end of month. Let them get scolded. I think this COO came from Felda, so he must be wanting the best," said a netizen using the Twitter handle @ai_hensemm.

Another user, with the Twitter handle @chai60076, said: "If it was me, I would rather work with a boss like this. Lots of things you can learn from this kind of boss. Plus this type of boss usually is the honest type and not stingy with their knowledge."

Felcra is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated and was established to help develop rural areas.