A whistleblower website claims to have uncovered another incident of blatant abuse over a land matter by Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib, this time concerning his son, Mahmud Abu Bekir.

NONE According to the Sarawak Report , Taib has over the past three years handed to Mahmud 70,000 hectares of native customary rights lands by way of his latter’s company Titanium Management.

Titanium Management, alleged Sarawak Report , has been the subject of numerous scandals recently due to the enormous number of public contracts it has received through direct negotiations with the Taib government.  

The website said it had identified at least 14 companies under Mahmud’s Titanium Management stable of companies which had been “secretly handed” the lands - which together equal the entire land mass of Singapore.

NONE In each and every case, Sarawak Repor t alleged further, the lands were handed to the companies without the usually required nominal payment to be made at some future date.

Instead, the companies are obliged only to make “Payment in Kind”, which the Sarawak Report claimed is a polite way of saying “for free”.

The website did not disclose other pertinent details, however, such as where the parcels of land are situated and when they were awarded to Mahmud's companies.

While dozens of reports have been lodged with the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission against the irregularities in the Taib administration, the authorities have either expressed unwillingness, dragged their feet, or projected an ‘ all’s fine and dandy ’ picture of the state administration.

Taib has been at the helm of the Sarawak administration as chief minister for close to three decades, among the longest-serving politicians in the Asia.