This was what Sabah's Daily Express reported on Saturday, 15
September 2007, in its news item titled 'Poor due to missing RM4b':
Among the reasons Sabah ended up being the poorest State is the
disappearance of RM4 billion from Yayasan Sabah's coffers during the
tenure of Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan as its Chief Executive. Parti
Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said this
in reply to the former's allegation that Sabah's lowly status was due
to Barsian Nasional rule.
Kurup felt that Jeffrey owes Sabahans an explanation on the RM4
billion. Former Premier Tun Dr Mahathir said in 1995 that RM4 billion
was unaccounted for in Yayasan Sabah's accounts when Parti Bersatu
Sabah ran the State Government. However, the matter remained at that.
Kurup, who is Sook Assemblyman, also told Jeffrey, who is Parti
Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Steering Committee Chairman for Sabah and
Sarawak, not to count his chickens before they are hatched. "Jeffrey
should be patient enough to wait for the verdict of the people in the
next election," he said in a statement. He also advised Jeffrey not
to look at Sook and instead look at what he had done for the Bingkor
constituency during his one decade as its Assemblyman.
"If Jeffrey thinks he could do better than the present BN government
I ask him to first of all list down what he had done when he was the
Assemblyman," he said. He said Jeffrey should also reflect why he was
so praiseworthy about the BN Government when he was in the BN but is
now singing an entirely different tune. "Simply, it is an act of
desperation after his attempts to join any of the BN component
parties were rejected outright," he said.
Meanwhile, PKR Sabah Youth Vice-Chief, Muada Joe Ojihi, and Beaufort
Vice-Chief, Guandee Kohoi, in a joint statement, said the BN would be
given a run for their money in the coming general election. "The
winds of change are blowing strong in Matunggong and Kuala Penyu and
it is similar in other places. Based on our visits with Dr Jeffrey to
other areas, we believe the BN will get a surprise," they said.
"Kurup should have asked himself the reasons why half the PBRS
divisions in Sabah have closed shop. Can he point out where are the
PBRS strongholds that have been acknowledged by the BN?" they asked.
They were confident that the people of Sabah are with the PKR just
like when they were with Berjaya in 1976 and with PBS in 1985.
Yes, we can all remember the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir
grumbling about the missing RM4 billion from the Sabah Foundation
(Yayasan Sabah) at the time when the PBS government was ruling Sabah.
The Chief Minister then was of course Pairin, Dr Jeffrey's brother.
Note one important thing in the Daily Express report above: Barisan
Nasional whacks Dr Jeffrey but makes no mention of his brother,
Pairin, who was the Chief Minister then. Was it not Pairin who
appointed his brother, Dr Jeffrey, the Chief Executive of the Yayasan
Sabah? And if there is the matter of the missing RM4 billion then
should not his 'handler' also be held accountable?
Why is there no mention of Pairin and why has he been exempted from
criticism? Simple! That is because Pairin is now in the ruling
government while Dr Jeffrey is in the opposition. The issue,
therefore, is not about the missing RM4 billion but the fact that Dr
Jeffrey is opposed to the government. Also note that, at the time
when both brothers were in the ruling government, this issue never
surfaced. Tun Dr Mahathir raised the issue when the PBS left the
ruling coalition to join the ranks of the opposition. But when PBS re-
joined the ruling coalition the matter was dropped. And now that Dr
Jeffrey is back in the opposition only he is taken to task while they
make it appear like Pairin is totally innocent of the 'crime' even
though he was in charge then and was responsible for putting his
brother in charge of the Sabah Foundation.
Dr Jeffrey was detained of course -- but not for the missing RM4
billion though. He was detained under the Internal Security Act for
launching a campaign to pull Sabah out of the Federation of Malaysia.
It seems, according to the Federal Government, this is a criminal
act. Sabah can certainly not be allowed to leave the Federation
because half the oil and gas comes from Sabah and Sarawak and Sabah
alone contributes about RM10 billion to the Federal coffer.
Terengganu contributes another RM20 billion while Sarawak the balance
RM10 billion to give Petronas an estimated income of RM40 billion a
year. And this will certainly increase corresponding to the increase
in the price of oil.
I have not actually studied the Sabah State Constitution (I assume it
has one) or scrutinised the Agreement when Malaysia was formed. The
common perception is that Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined
Malaysia. Those from Sabah argue that the state did not join Malaysia
as Malaysia did not exist yet then. What happened was that Singapore,
Sabah and Sarawak teamed up with Malaya to form Malaysia.
This would mean Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak are equal to Malaya, not
equal to the 11 other states in Peninsular Malaysia. Currently, Sabah
and Sarawak (Singapore has of course now ceased to be in Malaysia)
are treated at par with the other 11 states such as Selangor, Perak,
Penang, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Negeri
Sembilan and Melaka.
This is where the dissatisfaction lies. Sabah and Sarawak feel they
should be above the other 11 states. Their status is in fact at par
with the Federation of Malaya. Sabah and Sarawak did not join
Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak teamed up with Malaya to form Malaysia.
And this is why these two states have special privileges that were
spelt out in the 20-point agreement. For example, their Chief of
Police is called Commissioner of Police (CP) and not Chief Police
Officer (CPO) like the Peninsular Malaysian states. They also have
State Ministers and not Executive Council Members (EXCO Members) like
in the Peninsular Malaysian states. And Sabah and Sarawak can decide
who can and can't enter their states plus whether any of their
citizens can be barred from leaving the state. The other Peninsular
Malaysians states can't do this.
Now can you understand why Sabahans and Sarawakians took offence to
the recent 50th Merdeka celebration? They argue that they have been
merdeka (independent) for only 44 years and not 50. Malaysia did not
exist until 44 years ago. In 1957, when this country became
independent, it was called the Federation of Malaya. Only six years
later, when the Federation of Malaya merged with Singapore, Sabah and
Sarawak, was the name changed to the Federation of Malaysia. And
Sabahans and Sarawakians make it very clear that Sabah and Sarawak
did not join Malaysia. It was an equal partner with the Federation of
Malaya and therefore above the other Peninsular Malaysian states.
Anyway, the issue we would like to discuss today is not the status of
Sabah and Sarawak and whether they should celebrate 44 years or 50
years of Merdeka. What we want to talk about is the allegation that
RM4 billion has disappeared from Yayasan Sabah.
The Chief Executive of the Sabah Foundation is appointed by the Chief
Minister of Sabah. During the time of the PBS government, the Chief
Executive of the Sabah Foundation and the Chief Minister of Sabah
were brothers. Now, if it is true that Dr Jeffrey siphoned RM4
billion of the raykat's money, why was he not brought to book? He was
detained but he was detained for suggesting that Sabah pull out of
Malaysia. What we need to know is: is this a crime? Is it a crime to
suggest that Sabah pull out of Malaysia? Is there not a provision in
the agreement that says if Sabah conducts a referendum and if 75% of
the rakyat of Sabah choose for the state to leave Malaysia then Sabah
can legally do so? If so, then why was Dr Jeffrey detained?
I remember when I too was detained in April 2001. I was detained for
opposing Barisan Nasional and for going against the Prime Minister.
Since when is this a crime? Since when does this make me a traitor to
the Malay race? Since when does this make me a traitor to the nation?
Apparently, when you oppose the political party in office and/or the
Prime Minister this makes you a traitor to God, King, Country and
Race. Such is the very shallow mentality of Malaysians in general and
the Malay leaders in particular.
Okay, Dr Jeffrey, the Chief Minister's brother, misappropriated RM4
billion of the peoples' money. What action was taken against him? Was
Dr Jeffrey, the Chief Executive of the Sabah Foundation, or Pairin
who appointed his brother the Chief Executive of the Sabah
Foundation, brought to justice? Instead, Pairin's party was admitted
into Barisan Nasional and is now a member of the ruling coalition.
Is this how criminals are treated? They are alleged to have swindled
RM4 billion of the peoples' money. However, instead of being sent to
jail, they are rewarded and honoured. Or did the swindle never take
place? Did the two Kitingan brothers really steal RM4 billion of the
peoples' money or is this utter rubbish?
Let us look at what is real and an indisputable fact. Let us look at
the latest Auditor-General's report on Sabah's finances -- the
Laporan Ketua Audit Negara, Penyata Kewangan Kerajaan Negeri Sabah
Tahun 2006, published by the Jabatan Audit Negara.
In 2006, Sabah saw an increase in revenue of RM482.74 million that
resulted in its revenue increasing 27.1% to RM2.26 billion from
RM1.78 billion in 2005. The state expenditure, however, increased by
RM284.86 million to RM1.92 billion in 2006 from RM1.64 billion in 2005.
Now, how did this increase in revenue come about? The three main
sources of revenue are sales tax of RM656.07 million, forestry
revenue of RM505.16 million, and petroleum royalty of RM409.73. In
other words, Sabah is living off the land and not earning money from
its investments.
What must be noted here is that Sabah's investments increased to
RM1,271.62 million in 2006 from RM878.77 million in 2005, RM590.78 in
2004, RM327.27 in 2003 and RM144.22 in 2002. That is almost ten-fold
in four years. Why then has this exorbitant increase in 'investments'
not attracted a proportionate increase in revenue? Why is it that the
state's main revenue earner are still sales tax, forestry revenue and
petroleum royalty? And note that the increase in forestry revenue is
because the state is accelerating the cutting down of forests plus
the price of oil has gone up.
Another important point to note is that Sabah's cash reserves which
was RM86.23 million two years ago has dwindled to RM68.09 with only
RM24.03 million in the State Treasury. That is all the cash Sabah
has, RM24.03 million. In spite of the large increase in revenue and
the remarkable increase in investments, the cash reserve in the State
Treasury is peanuts. Everything went up since 2002 -- the revenue,
investments -- but the cash reserves went down while the expenses
increased.
Where did all the money go?
"Kerajaan Negeri perlu berusaha untuk menambah hasil dan berbelanja
secara berhemat untuk mengukuhkan lagi kedudukan Akaun Hasil
Disatukan," said the Auditor-General. 11,014 projects were planned in
the RMK9 (Ninth Malaysia Plan), said the Auditor-General. However, to
date, only 3% or 30 projects have been completed while 6,201 projects
or 58.3% have not even been launched yet. The Auditor-General also
said that they have no information whatsoever on 364 or 3.3% of the
projects. This means no one knows what happened to them.
Joseph Kurup is raising issues about what happened decades ago when
the Kitingan brothers were running Sabah. Look, if they are guilty of
misappropriating RM4 billion of the state's money then charge them
and put them on trial. Why do nothing other than complain about it in
the Daily Express? And why honour those you call criminals by
admitting them into Barisan Nasional and by giving them positions of
power in the State Government? Is this how criminals should be
rewarded? Is Barisan Nasional nothing but a den of thieves? And if
they are not criminals then stop shouting, screaming, ranting and
raving. Instead, focus on how the state is being run now, under the
present administration.
Billions of Ringgit are disappearing even as you read this. Billions
of Ringgit are entering the state coffer only to disappear without a
trace. Investments are being made in the billions of Ringgit. But
none of these investments are earning the state any income. The state
depends on revenue earned from cutting down forest reserves many
times the size of Singapore Island. It depends on revenue earned from
taxing the rakyat billions of Ringgit in the form of Sales Tax. It
depends on the price of oil going up and the petroleum royalty it
earns from that. And it spends every single Sen of what it earns and
saves nothing as cash reserve. For the billions a year it earns,
Sabah has only RM24.03 million to show for it in the State Treasury.
How can it earn RM2 billion a year and only have RM24.03 million to
its name? And how can more than RM1.271 billion in investments not
see a single Sen in profit?
This is what the state must look into. This is what Sabah must focus
on. Forget about something that happened 20 years ago under a
different administration. If there are criminals from amongst you
then flush them out. Stop grumbling while honouring these same people
you call criminals with positions of honour and power. Joseph Kurup
says that Sabah is poorer because of the Kitingan brothers. I say
poorer, poorer, porah!
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