BN parties scoff at Sapp's 'politics of mischief'

Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties in Sabah have embarked on an unusually fierce counter-attack against the Sabah Progressive Party’s (Sapp) “constant politicking”. Sapp’s approach, cautions Umno executive secretary Kadzim M Yahya for one, “is largely based on information sourced from weblogs which spread lies”.

The ex-BN ‘misfit’, also a breakaway from the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), is being virtually accused of embarking on a campaign of misinformation. Sapp’s hidden agenda, according to this line of attack from its former partners, is to create “a negative perception of the BN government in the minds of the people”.

Citing the just-unveiled 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) as a case in point, Kadzim pointed out that Sapp president Yong Teck Lee ( right ) rubbished it within hours as “another disappointment for Sabah like the 9th MP”.

He implied that Yong would not have had a reasonable length of time to study the 10th MP before going public with “his jaundiced views that the BN government is confusing the people with too many plans and policies”.

The federal government, he pleaded, must be given the benefit of the doubt on the ten “big ideas” which will be put into action by the 10MP.

“Sapp has been barking in the media almost on a daily basis and blowing up issues without justification,” said Kadzim. “Sapp’s statements sent to the media are simply lifted from various blogs and passed off as its own.”

Likewise, continued Kadzim, the state government has already explained the recent RM500 million bond issue “but the Sapp continues to bring this up in various distortions”. The state government’s stand is that there was a need to benchmark the state’s creditworthiness in the local and international markets “to woo investors”.

Much of the venom against Sapp is from PBS through State Assembly Speaker Johnny Mositun, who is also the party’s information chief.

Sabah’s finances ‘healthy’

“It is clear that Yong dwells long on the peripheral points of the issues he raises,” said Mositun. “He comes up short on the main or core points in his almost daily utterances in the media.”

Mositun noted that Yong himself had conceded not so long ago, inadvertently or otherwise, that Sabah had healthy financial reserves totaling RM2 billion which is still growing.

When Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala recently raised the prospect of Malaysia going bankrupt by 2019, Yong changed his tune very quickly, added Mositun. “He’s now going around claiming that Sabah will be another Dubai and links this prediction with the RM500 million bond issue, among others.”

“Yong should not mislead the public that the Sabah state government is short of funds and hence the bond issue,” said Mositun. “The excellent response to the bond issue is clear proof of the high level of public and investor confidence in the state’s financial strength.”

Nobody would subscribe to bonds issued by a state government that has no financial credibility, he added. “As PBS information chief, it’s my duty to speak up and defend the BN state government. We have full confidence in Chief Minister Musa Aman’s ( left ) ability to manage the state’s financial affairs.”

Mositun disclosed that the proceeds from the RM500 million bond issue have been fully invested in state-owned Sabah Development Bank and “this will eventually pay dividends”.

‘Ceded blocks not issue’

Mositun also took issue with Yong’s claim that Sabah has lost three million acres of territorial waters when the federal government surrendered oil blocks L and M to Brunei

He explained that the oil blocks were not in territorial waters - defined as 12 nautical miles from the shoreline - but conceded that they were in the Exclusive Economic Zone which overlapped with Brunei’s claims.

“The Sapp chief should not continue to harp on the so-called loss of three million acres of territorial waters,” stressed Mositun. “What is important is to ensure that Sabah gets the 5 percent oil royalty from exploration in oil blocks L and M under the joint exploration rights with Brunei.”

The state government, through its GLC, Warisan Harta Sabah, also released today preliminary figures of a “disastrous share swap deal in December 1997 during the term of a former chief minister”, implying Yong, who was chief minister from May 28, 1996 for a two-year period.

The statement suggested the financial management of the Sabah state government at that time left a lot to be desired.    

The Sabah BN has until now ignored the daily avalanche of statements from the opposition, in particular the Sapp. It has so far been focused on managing the economy. Its emergence from silence comes in the wake of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) raids in Sabah since last month.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president VK Liew indicated so in his take on Sapp’s “politics of mischief”.

“The people should be calm and rational and not be unduly influenced by Sapp on the MACC raids,” said Liew, whose jurisdiction as a deputy federal minister includes the MACC. “Let the MACC investigate that certain personalities are allegedly involved in money laundering and linked with the state government.”

‘Are media reports wrong?’

Liew noted that Sapp’s statements on the MACC raids in Sabah were not based on its own research but simply lifted from Malaysiakini and Nanyang Siang Pau . He added that he had already pledged in Parliament that “no stone will be left unturned by the MACC in any investigation involving corruption; regardless of the suspect’s standing in society”.

He did not dwell on allegations that former LDP president Chong Kah Kiat was involved in a proxy war with the Sabah chief minister through certain LDP leaders.  

LDP has of late been very critical of the Sabah state government, resulting in several LDP leaders being denied or removed from government appointments. Liew himself has explained that the criticisms were in good faith and should be accepted graciously.

BN Sabah leaders have so far been silent on Yong’s allegations, among others, that the subsidies at various levels “were mostly handed out to Umno and BN leaders and not the ordinary people”. He cited the “do nothing” Approved Permits (AP) as one example of the subsidy regime benefitting Umno leaders and not the state.

Sapp information chief Chong Pit Fah ( left ), when contacted, said the party had received many calls in the wake of the MACC raids, adding the state government should clarify whether it has any links with the MACC detainees.

He added that Liew’s response was a standard one which did not shed any light on the issue.

Sapp Youth chief Edward Dagul, in a statement, pointed out that since some of the party’s statements were based on MCA-owned Nanyang Siang Pau reports, Kadzim should clarify whether Nanyang is therefore also spreading “lies and propaganda” against the BN.

Meanwhile Yong, in a hurriedly prepared statement for the media, has challenged the state government to take legal action if they claim he had abused his chief minister position in managing Warisan Harta Sabah.

He pointed out that the matter had already been brought to court before and nothing came out of it. The Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) of the time also investigated, but with no result, added Yong.

"It was PBS Deputy President Dr Yee Moh Chai who claimed to have evidence of wrong-doing,"said Yong.