THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

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!