Government – Sabah Insights

And Hajiji Noor fails to defend Sabah’s rights

It is shocking that the federal government has refused to give Sabah a RM866m electricity subsidy to prevent a statewide blackout next year. The money is needed to pay for rental of diesel generating sets and diesel fuel to produce electricity while the Tenom-Pangi hydro plant is shut down for repairs. Even more shocking is that the Sabah government appealed to the federal treasury for the money. In this, both prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and chief minister Hajiji Noor have erred. Mr Hajiji should not have begged. He should have demanded for it as under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963, Putra Jaya has a constitutional duty to fund Sabah’s development which includes financing Sabah electrification. Mr Anwar has conveniently forgotten that his government owes Sabah hundreds of billions of ringgit in the 40 percent net revenue it collected from the resource-rich north Borneo island state which Sabah is constitutionally entitled. And while Mr Anwar has reneged on the MA63 and held Sabah to ransom, Mr Hajiji has shown how subservient he is to the central government and that he can’t be relied on to defend Sabah’s rights.

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Government

Malaysia’s most feared taxman is Kota Kinabalu mayor

January 7, 2024January 19, 2024 Sabah Insights

Sabin Samitah’s job may be hampered as state election looms

Kota Kinabalu mayor Sabin Samitah (left) with Luyang lawmaker Ginger Phoong Jin Zhe – Picture courtesy of The Borneo Post

Seven years ago, the name Sabin Samitah struck fear in Malaysia’s corporate world. As chief executive officer of the Inland Revenue Board, he slapped companies and businessmen with multi-million-ringgit income tax bills and penalties for under declaring income as soon as he assumed office in December 2016. Among those he cracked down were the companies of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamed’s three sons, and property developer Lee Kim Yew, a close friend of Mahathir, who founded Country Heights Holdings Berhad. Then in October 2021, two months short of his five-year contract, he abruptly quit his job. In September that year he had slapped former prime minister Najib Razak with a RM1.7-billion tax bill which drew condemnations from Mr Najib who is serving a 12-year jail sentence for corruption and money laundering. The Ranau-born Mr Sabin, 63, has now become the seventh mayor of Kota Kinabalu. His appointment on new year’s day was understandably greeted with trepidation by those who know him. Yet he hasn’t said that he would go after ratepayers who owe the Dewan Bandaraya (city hall) about RM50m in council taxes. But he has set his sight on giving the state capital cleaner public toilets in three months.

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Barisan Nasional, Courts, Government, Harris Salleh, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Politics, Sabah, Syed Kechik

A likely pyrrhic victory, either way

August 28, 2016November 18, 2017 Sabah Insights

It may be Malaysia’s strangest court case in which the living fight tooth and nail over a dead man’s honour. Only that victory is likely to be pyrrhic; whichever way it goes. Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed died a broken man at 81 in 2009, leaving an estate of 400m ringgit ($99m) and without exonerating himself of the wrongs Sabah accused him of. In a civil suit brought against him by the trustees of Sabah Foundation, a philanthropic trust, the Sabah high court in 1999 found him guilty of fraud and to have breached his fiduciary duty as the Foundation director. A book, “Vendetta and Abuse of Power”, which tries to clear his name, albeit posthumously, is now the subject of a libel suit brought by former chief minister Harris Salleh. But the three days of open court hearing which began on August 23 turned out to be a sparring match between Mr Harris and those he is suing for defamation. Continue reading “A likely pyrrhic victory, either way” →

Barisan Nasional, Bernard Dompok, Government, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, Malaysia, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Penampang, Politics, Sabah, Upko

Bernard Dompok: Losing to win

August 25, 2016November 18, 2017 Sabah Insights

For Bernard Dompok, things don’t always turn out as he wishes. But the 66-year-old indigenous Kadazandusun politician can often count on his lucky stars. Born in the largely rice-growing suburb of Penampang, the heartland of Kadazan nationalism, Mr Dompok was the only Sabah chief minister to have been voted out by his people with a vengence. It wasn’t his first defeat in 1999, though. Voters kicked him out from the Penampang parliamentary seat twice – in 1995 and then in 2013. Yet defeat is sweet for Mr Dompok who has become Malaysia’s first ambassador to the Vatican. He is a Roman Catholic.

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Courts, Government, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Politics, Sabah

The ghost of Syed Kechik

August 21, 2016November 18, 2017 Sabah Insights

Seven years after his death, Sabah’s most hated man has come to haunt

Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed (picture) was Sabah’s most hated man. So much so that the now defunct Parti Berjaya made his expulsion from Sabah as one of its election promises. It swept to power in 1976, ending Mustapha Harun’s nine years of iron-clad rule which was mostly blamed on Syed Kechik. He died in 2009 at the age of 81. He was Mustapha’s right hand man; but many saw him as Sabah’s de facto chief minister. The courts then forestalled his expulsion. But for three days starting tomorrow (Aug 22) the high court in Kota Kinabalu will hear a libel suit brought by former chief minister Harris Salleh over allegations in a book, “Vendetta and Abuse of Power”, that he had abused his power and was vindictive in seizing Syed Kechik’s properties.

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Government

Collecting the “uncollectible”

December 18, 2014March 18, 2016 Sabah Insights

Parking fees in Kota Kinabalu are some of the lowest in the world. Motorists pay between 20 and 50 sen (6 and 14 cents) to park for 30 minutes or an hour in the city. Of course, depending on how busy the area is, the rate doubles or triples the longer they park. But parking here is still very cheap. Yet Kota Kinabalu City Hall has been unable to collect most of the money. It is saddled with outstanding parking fees and fines to a staggering RM58 million over the last 10 years, according to mayor Abidin Madingkir. An “amnesty” to allow defaulters to pay a fraction of what they owe has failed. And another attempt to make motorists pay upfront in a coupon system has irked them.

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Category: Government

In Sabah Electricity, Anwar reneges on MA63