Sabah RCI comes under fire

Restricting the Sabah RCI hearing to a predetermined
number of witnesses will result in investigations
falling far short of public expectations.

By Joseph Bingkasan

KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the fraudulent issuance of citizenship to illegal immigrants has hardly got off the ground but has already run into controversy.

Its move to call for testimony for witnesses at its “whim and fancy” will render its investigation far short of what the people of Sabah are expecting, an MP from Sabah said today.

“The commission must conduct an open hearing to give opportunities for the public who want to offer testimonies without restriction,” said Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) president Wilfred Bumburing, the Tuaran MP.

Where’s the billions in forest royalties?

Despite the billions derived from logging,
oil and gas royalties, Sarawakian natives
have remained poor with minimal infrastructure.

By Joseph Tawie

KUCHING: Where has the RM14.4 billion in forest royalties derived from logging Sarawak’s rainforest since 1980 gone?

Posing this question in the current sitting of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, assemblyman See Chee How said the revenue seemed not to have filtered down to the masses, as the state was still grappling with poverty.

“What has happened to all the forest royalties that the state received from all the trees chopped down since 1980?

“The state government likes to claim that logging [and now oil palm] has brought development to the rural people. But, if so, why is there still so much poverty and deprivation in Sarawak?

‘Can you expect thieves to arrest themselves?’

A Sabah-based activist has accused Upko of pussyfooting
around the illegal immigrant issue.

KOTA KINABALU: The author of a book ‘Lest We Forget’ that chronicled the ‘acquisition’ of Sabah by Umno-linked authorities, who re-engineered the demographics of the state, is surprised that local leaders are now downplaying the facts.

Expressing his concern, Dr Chong Eng Leong said he was worried that even a hardline local Barisan Nasional coalition component was backing away from the controversial issue after years of championing it.

Chong is particularly incensed that state assembly representative Donald Mojuntin, the son of the late Peter Mojuntin who is lionised as a defender of Sabah’s rights, was now choosing to limit the fallout from a widely acknowledged illegal act.

TNB deal in Sabah raises eyebrows

Why is Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd paying a TNB subsidiary
RM18 million annually for routine services when it can
do the job itself?

TAWAU: The yearly payment of RM18 million to a subsidiary of national utility company Tenaga National Bhd for routine services of a power station in Sabah has come under the spotlight.

Sabah DAP chairman Jimmy Wong said state utility company, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, which is itself a subsidiary of TNB, must explain the rationale for the multi-million ringgit bill for maintenance checks by TNB Remaco on the Kubota Power Plant at Taman Millennium.

Wong said SESB should be able to handle the routine task without having to engage TNB Remaco for the job as has been done in the past.

“The RM18 million is only used to conduct routine operation and service. Any major breakdown is still paid by SESB.

Shafie’s wooing Yong back into BN

In a bid to unseat Musa Aman, Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal
is allegedly brokering deals with SAPP's Yong Teck Lee.

Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal is allegedly masterminding the return of former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee into the Barisan Nasional and claiming he has the tacit approval of party president Najib Tun Razak to negotiate the return.

This is despite the fact that Sabah BN components distrust Yong, who is Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president.

Yong, Shafie and Joseph Ambrose Lee were partners in crime at one time. They allegedly took over the RM30-billion timber wealth of Yayasan Sabah through a share-swap. The “swap” had allegedly taken place when Yong was chief minister and Shafie a directer in Yayasan Sabah.