More than meets the eye in Umno Sabah

MALAYSIA TODAY
Petra Kamarudin

In part 5 (The Housing Board Scam) of this special report on the New Economic Policy (NEP), we spoke about Syarikat Perumahaan Negara Berhad (SPNB) and the role Musbah Jamli is playing in the 30,000 units, RM1 billion housing fiasco entrusted to Supernesa Sdn Bhd, a Sabah State Government company (GLC) set up to implement the development of the houses, which is actually one of the objectives of the NEP (to give houses to the poor and homeless Bumiputeras).

Well, much money has changed hands, some contactors (all non-Bumiputeras of course) having paid more than RM1 million in advance as under-the-table kickbacks to get a chunk of that RM1 billion contract. In January 2006, Tunku Adnan Tunku Mansor terminated Supernesa’s contract and now the contactors who have donated so generously to Umno Sabah are up in arms. The question is: how much of this money actually went to Umno Sabah and how much was pocketed by Musa Aman and Musbah Jamli?

Well, never mind, what is important is that the NEP has again and again been abused and used as the camouflage to fleece the country’s coffers and line the pockets of the powers-that-be and those close to them. But sometimes, just like in any Hollywood movie, crooks do fall out and start fighting when the spoils are not equally distributed -- or one crook walks away with everything, leaving the others with nothing. When everyone gets their fair or equal share, well and fine. But when the money does not trickle down to those below, then a war erupts as in the case of Umno Sabah. The money was supposedly collected for Umno Sabah and to pay for Umno Sabah's new building still under construction. But it seems the money is not there. It has mysteriously disappeared. And this is one of the things that caused the recent shakeout in Umno Sabah that resulted in heads getting chopped.

In short, the Umno Sabah leaders are just totally disgusted with the way Musa Aman tripled his RM300 million wealth which he declared when he took over as Chief Minister just three years ago on 27 March 2003. And they want him out of office before he touches the RM1 billion mark. (And how, in the first place, he made the RM300 million as Sabah's Minister of Finance is another story altogether).

Ignore those rumours: RahimThat's what the Daily Express headlined on Monday, 20 February 2006. The report went on to say:State Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail advised the public to ignore persistent rumours that relinquishing his State Umno information Chief post recently was due personal or political differences with the Chief Minister.

"Please do not listen to them as it could lead to disunity among party members," Rahim said, while urging all party members to stand solidly behind the leadership of Datuk Seri Musa Aman.He said those spreading the rumours had mischievous intent and want to see Umno's influence in Sabah weaken.Musa, while chairing the State Liaison Umno meeting on Jan. 26, had announced that Rahim had relinquished the post in order to concentrate on his Ministry.

"These people don't realise that me and Musa have been working together since the United Sabah Nasional Organisation (Usno) days," Rahim said, when contacted, Saturday.

Rahim, who is Papar Umno acting divisional head, said Musa had done a lot for Sabah in terms of development and is responsible for strengthening the State's financial reserves.

"Musa has also done a lot for the party and members ever since he was being appointed State Umno Liaison Chief. It is not easy for him but he managed to steer the party through his credible leadership."

Rahim urged all Umno divisional Chiefs, branch heads and party members to stand behind the leadership of Musa.And in January 2006, The Star headlined: “No bad blood between Musa and me,” said Sabah State Agriculture and Food Industries Minister, Abdul Rahim Ismail. In this report, The Star said:“Musa and I go back a long way, since the time of Parti Usno (that dissolved to merge with Umno in 1991). Our relationship has always been good,” said Rahim.Sure, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, one-time Malaysian Prime Minister, and Anwar Ibrahim, his Deputy, said the same thing. Then, barely a couple of days later, Dr Mahathir sacked Anwar on grounds of ‘sexual misconduct’ and declared that he had known for years about his number two’s sexual exploits.

Malaysian politics is such. When politicians say ‘no such thing’, you can assume there is -- if not they would not need to make any statements denying the whole thing.When asked whether the Umno headquarters had asked him to resign at the insistence of his boss, Sabah Chief Minister and Umno Sabah chief Musa Aman, Rahim explained that his decision to resign was because of ‘work commitments’, whatever that means. However, according to The Star, “Rahim’s move to vacate the post had come as a surprise, even to some of his party colleagues.”

Yes, The Star and many within Umno Sabah do not pass this whole thing off as a ‘normal’ situation and they too feel that there is more than meets the eye as far as this issue is concerned.On 27 January 2006, Malaysia Today reported that Musa Aman is purging Umno Sabah of dissidents and is getting rid of those opposed to him (Musa Aman purging Umno Sabah). What we said then was:At last count, 20 of the 25 Umno Divisions in Sabah are opposed to Musa Aman. It used to be 19. Recently, however, Musa Aman’s strongest supporter, Umno Sabah Information Chief, who is also the Papar division head and State Agriculture and Food Industries Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail, joined the group.

Yesterday, Rahim Ismail became the first casualty in Musa Aman’s effort to purge Umno Sabah of dissidents and those opposed to him. Officially, of course, Rahim Ismail “resigned from his post to spend more time on his duties as the state Agriculture and Food Industries Minister”.

This is of course a smokescreen and meant to cover the fact that Umno Sabah is in serious trouble. The truth is: Rahim Ismail told Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that if Musa Aman leads Umno in the next election, then Sabah will definitely fall to the opposition. And Musa Aman did not take kindly to this report Rahim Ismail gave the prime minister.

Malaysia Today’s revelation upset Musa and he asked Rahim to come out with this denial if he would like to keep his job as State Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries. Rahim knows that at best this is just a temporary measure and sooner or later Musa will sack him from his post of Minister as well and get rid of him for good. But for the meantime Rahim would like to keep his job while he gathers all the dirt on Musa and reveal it all in due time.

Sabah’s Daily Express, however, was more revealing in its coverage on the matter. The following day, on Friday, the Daily Express quoted Musa as saying, “There is no room for disloyalty”. And Musa said this while answering reporters’ questions about Rahim’s supposedly ‘resignation’.

And this was what the Daily Express further said in its report:State Umno Liaison chief Datuk Musa Haji Aman warned disciplinary action will be taken against any member flouting the party's code of conduct. "We cannot tolerate the action of those errant members, and will not hesitate to recommend severe disciplinary action against those found guilty of misconduct," he said. Musa, who is also Chief Minister, was speaking after chairing the State Umno liaison committee meeting at the Umno office, KWSP building here, Thursday. (Rahim Ismail had earlier stormed out of this meeting in a huff).

He stressed that all Umno divisional heads are to compile reports on these disloyal members, to be submitted to the party's management committee for deliberation. Musa declined to reveal the identities of the members concerned, but it was believed that they had attended talks given by former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during his recent visit to Sabah (in mid-January 2006). "Not only those who attended the Anwar function, but also those who attended functions hosted by the opposition parties," he added. Asked how many party members were involved, he said: " It depends on the reports by the divisional heads." Meanwhile, Musa also announced that Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail had relinquished his party post as Information chief. "He met me personally to explain his desire and intention on why he wanted to relinquish his post," he said. According to Musa, Rahim reasoned that he wanted to focus his time more on the programmes being planned by his Ministry, for smooth implementation. He thanked Rahim for his contribution to the party as information chief, saying that Rahim would retain his post as acting Papar Umno divisional chief. When contacted, Rahim said this would give him more time to focus his attention on his Ministry's role to ensure the success of the Halatuju mooted by the Chief Minister, in the agriculture sector to generate better income not only for the farmers but also the Government. Musa also announced the appointment of Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Sapawi Haji Ahmad as the new Sabah Umno information chief. Yes, does not the Daily Express report throw more light on the matter? The real issue is ‘disloyal members’, those suspected of being in cahoots with Anwar Ibrahim, and not as Rahim was instructed to say to the press. Musa suspects Rahim has joined the group out to oust him. And Musa suspects that these people will team up with Parti Keadilan Rakyat so that Anwar can be the catalyst for his (Musa’s) downfall. What is frightening to Musa is that Rahim has all the dirt on him and he knows how much money that was supposed to have been collected for Umno Sabah has disappeared. And if Rahim was to reveal all, then Musa's goose is cooked.Another fine example of how the NEP works.To be continued....