Why is Pak Lah protecting Musa Aman?

Monday, December 27, 2004


Malaysia Today

Malaysia Today has revealed many abuses, transgresses and excesses of the Sabah Chief Minister, Musa Aman (Umno Sabah: Talk a lot but say nothing). Not only has Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) not done anything about it, but he has in fact rolled over Musa’s tenure as Chief Minister another term though the Sabah ‘agreement’ stipulates that a Chief Minister may stay in office for only one term of two years.

Why is Musa being accorded special treatment when others before him more qualified for the job and who have demonstrated a spotless track record have been retired as soon as their term expired without even an extra day’s extension?

For those living in West or Peninsular Malaysia who have little grasp of Sabah politics, the question may be a perplexing one indeed. But to Sabahans who live in a town where even if the Chief Minister is suffering from an upset stomach it is no secret, they all know the reason why.

Musa Aman ‘sponsored’ Pak Lah’s wife’s medical expenses to the United States when she had to go there for cancer treatment last year. There is nothing wrong with this though, as long as the act was based on humanitarian reasons and there are no strings attached. But when Musa has been implicated in some irregularities and Pak Lah not only does not act on it but actually extends his term of office as Chief Minister, then certainly tongues would start wagging.

As starters, what happened to the Price Waterhouse audit report on the RM3 billion missing funds from Yayasan Sabah (Sabah Foundation)? Why has this report not been made public? Is this a ‘sword’ that is being held over the heads of the Kitingan brothers, Pairin and Jeffrey, to ensure that they continue supporting the ruling party and that they do not create any problems or raise the issue of ‘Sabah for Sabahans’?

We must say that the Kitingan brothers are definitely well-behaved of late. And is the Price Waterhouse missing RM3 billion audit report that is being held back ‘till further notice’ the reason for his best behaviour?

And what about another set of two brothers Robert and William Tan? Robert and Anifah Aman, Chief Minister Musa’s brother, are like kuku dan isi (fingernail and flesh), in short, inseparable. What is the relationship between the Tan and Aman brothers and why has the Tan brothers been given large and numerous negotiated contracts through their Pembinaan Kekal Mewah group of companies?

Many of these negotiated contracts given to the Tan brothers could have been procured much cheaper if they had been tendered out instead. For example, the Tan brothers have been given the contract to maintain all rural roads in Sabah for a period of twenty years -- meaning almost all roads since Sabah is predominantly rural. This, in short, is a gold mine and similar to a licence to print money.

Musa Aman is not worried about all these accusations. He is untouchable, he boasts, because Pak Lah owes him a favour. And what, may we ask, is this favour Pak Lah is indebted to him for?

Musa also boasts he was already worth RM300 million even before be became Sabah’s Chief Minister two years ago -- so he does not need the job and Pak Lah can remove him anytime if he so wishes.

Fine, but that is not the issue. What is, is how did he amass this RM300 million as the head of Yayasan Sabah? Surely the salary he was paid as the head of Yayasan Sabah could not have been higher than that of Bill Gates of Microsoft?

And what is behind the company called Regional Harvest Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture between Sabah Softwood Sdn Bhd and Rentak Hasil Sdn Bhd? Why did Yayasan Sabah, through its company Sabah Softwood, sign a joint-venture agreement with Rentak Hasil, a company owned by the Tan brothers, to manage all its palm oil activities?

This, for all intents and purposes, just like the 20-year contract to maintain all the roads in Sabah, is another licence to print money. And is this why Musa aborted the plan to list Sabah Softwood after spending RM500,000 on the listing exercise? Certainly, if Sabah Softwood was listed, then the cat would be out of the bag.

On the Umno Sabah building, Musa explained that the land the building is sitting on belongs to Accordon Sdn Bhd, the developer. Accordon, in turn, is owned by Musa’s brother-in-law, M. Sapawak @ M. Sapawai Bin M. Tussin (The Umno Sabah building scam perpetuated by Musa Aman). Is this not a conflict of interest? And did Accordon ‘donate’ the entire piece of land to Umno Sabah or just part of the land. And for donating part of this land to Umno Sabah, did Accordon then get a huge reduction or waiver on the premium, whereby it would then get the balance of the land for free or almost free?

Much needs to be explained and just saying that the land was donated to Umno Sabah is not good enough. We need to know what are the terms of the donation and did Accordon thereby benefit because of this donation?

One point in his ‘explanation’ which Musa conveniently left out is the issue of Sabico Sdn Bhd (Musa Aman caught with his pants down). Sabico is constructing the building. In turn, Sabico was awarded many negotiated contracts many times above the estimated contact value. For example, it was awarded a RM10 million negotiated contract to paint the religious department building which could have been done at a fraction of the cost. And there are many more. Is therefore the state indirectly paying for the Umno building by giving inflated contacts to Sabico?

Yes, Musa Aman cannot just brush all this away by uttering ‘everything is above board’ (We have nothing 'to hide'). He has to prove it. And he is yet to do so. And Pak Lah has to explain why Musa Aman’s tenure as Chief Minister is being rolled over another two years in breach of the rotation agreement and in spite of all the skeletons in the closet? Is Musa being rewarded for ‘personal service’ extended to Pak Lah?