Reveal the Cost to Get the "Mysterious" Award, GRS told

Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Hajiji Noor became the envy of Malaysians when he suddenly clinched himself and GRS state government an award called the IBR Asean Awards 2025 for being "Malaysia's Most Progressive State". What a timely award!

By Daniel John Jambun, 12-6-2025

WE have seen this movie before — the glossy videos, the dramatic lighting, the carefully scripted accolades. And now, once again, the GRS State Government wants Sabahans to believe they have been crowned “Malaysia’s Most Outstanding State” by a corporate consultancy that is better known for storytelling than independent assessment.

Let us be clear: The IBR Asia Group is not an international institution of governance auditing. It is a private marketing and event consultancy company. Their strength? Storytelling. Their skill? Creating narratives. Their business? Selling perception.

And now the question every Sabahan should be asking is this:

How much did the GRS government pay this consultant to write them a fairy tale?

Because in the real Sabah:

Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia 

Our people are still queuing for water.

Frequent electricity supply disruptions and shortages 

High unemployment rate at 7.7%. Our youths are migrating for jobs.

Our interior roads are crumbling. Urban roads are full of potholes. 

And our hospitals are understaffed and under-equipped.

Hundreds of dilapidated schools.

Yet somehow, in the fictional Sabah scripted by IBR Asia’s “panel of experts”, all is well — so well, in fact, that Sabah is more “outstanding” than any other state in Malaysia.

Is this award based on independently verified public service delivery, audited economic outcomes, or third-party social development indices? No. It is based on a marketing product, packaged by a consultant for a client.

So again we ask:

How much of the people’s money was spent to stage this illusion? Who approved it? Who paid for the flights, the videos, the trophies, and the dinner gala?

We urge the State Government to immediately disclose all payments, contracts, and correspondence with IBR Asia Group and its associates. Sabahans deserve the truth — not another round of self-congratulatory fiction while the real issues on the ground remain unaddressed.

The people of Sabah are not naive. We know the difference between real transformation and political storytelling.

And we refuse to be bought over by glitter while our future remains in the dark.

Daniel John Jambun is President of

Borneo's Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo)

&

Change Advocate Movement Sabah (CAMOS).#~Borneo Herald™