Keep promise to extend land title leases!

KOTA KINABALU, June 16, 2011: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) is urging the State Barisan Nasional (BN) Government to keep its promise made during the last general election to extend Kolombong land title leases to 99 years from the original 60 years.

Its Treasurer-General, Datuk Wong Yit Ming, said since 2008, the landowners have yet to receive any news about the lease extension from the Government.

Wong, in a statement, claimed that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman made the promise to constituents in Kolombong on February 24, 2008 when campaigning for the 12th general election.

"SAPP was informed that Musa said the Cabinet had agreed to allow the land lease renewal up to 99 years. However, according to some of the landowners, they found out through the offer from Hasil Bumi that the extension was only for 60 years and not 99 as promised," Wong said.

The landowners also complained to SAPP that the premium charged for the lease exten- sion was very high, he said.

According to Wong, the landowners in Kolombong are waiting anxiously for news from the Government about the premium and the years of extension for their title deed.

“This issue has caused a lot of concern for the landowners as most of the title leases in Kolombong area will expire in the next 10 years. Some of the landowners have informed me that most of the banks and financial institutions are refusing to give them loans unless they can extend their title lease," he stressed.

"SAPP, therefore, calls on the State Government to speed up the renewal of Kolombong land titles without any further delay and it must also be fair and reasonable in charging premium for the extension of title deeds up to 99 years as promised by the Chief Minister," he added.

Where is SGD16 Millions in HK came from?

On June 7th 2011, Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) had detained Datuk Richard Christopher Barnes a senior lawyer, a confidant of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman on links to Micheal Chai and his alleged smuggling of 16 million cash out of Hong Kong airport. 5 MACC officials went to Richard Barnes legal firm, Shelley Yap Leong Tseu Chong Chai and Co in Kota Kinabalu, and took away boxes of files in relation to this case. As of now, Richard Barnes is in remand for 5 days in the MACC office in Putrajaya. 

Yes, Premier Najib Tun Razak’s fight against corruption is closing in on Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman. 

Initially, the Premier was in a quandary and was unwilling to pass a routine political directive for the arrest and prosecution of Musa Aman’s cronies for the allegedly involvement in illegal foreign currency dealings and the smuggling of 16 million cash out of Hong Kong airport by the adopted brother Micheal Chai‏. But not for now. 

Premier Najib Tun Razak is going after one by one, all of Musa Aman’s timber cronies and nominees and so far 14 have already been roped in by the MACC. Well done!

In Malaysia no arrest or prosecution takes place without Premier Najib’s sanction and this is a fact. It is a political formality that the police or MACC and Attorney General adhere to.

The MACC’s criminal investigations department started to investigate Musa Aman’s close allies, for flouting exchange control regulations and running Mafia-type shelf companies in Hong Kong, Switzerland and Singapore which runs to hundreds of million. Most of the money is under-table payments from timber kickbacks from Yayasan Sabah Concession areas made to Hong Kong-registered companies said to be linked to Musa Aman.

These companies would buy and trade foreign currency on the black market with money from the timber kickbacks. Micheal Chai and GANG then made weekly transfers involving millions of dollars which amounts to sabotaging our economic reforms by trading on the black market and flouting the Exchange Control Act in both Malaysia and Hong Kong, an offence punishable with jail time or a fine.

Since Mahathir’s pegging of the US Dollar in the late nineties, when the exchange rate was fixed, several business people, timber tycoons, hoteliers and bankers have been arrested for illegally dealing in foreign currency. However, it appears that no one had the guts to go after Musa Aman’s Cronies, Micheal Chai and Gang of 14 including Freddy Lim— whom many have dubbed the Godfather of murky foreign currency dealings in Malaysia. Freddy Lim was at one time put under the Internal Security Act ISA for economic sabotage.

The Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) revealed that a docket was opened last year and handed to MACC for action. But no political directive was forthcoming, so MACC put an end to the investigation.

I was reliably informed that a second probe was conducted by the MACC only after the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) officials came to Sabah to investigate Musa Aman personally last year. Sometimes January this year, the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) officials had informed their Malaysian counterparts that if they do not act on the individuals link to the money laundering in Hong Kong, the ICAC Hong Kong would get a arrest warrant in Hong Kong for the arrest of the Chief Minister Musa Aman as his name had been implicated in the smuggling of the 16 million cash out of the Hong Kong International Airport.

The docket was made available to the MACC by a high-ranking source in the government of Hong Kong. It is all there.

License to govern does not mean license to be corrupt and Musa Aman has to learn this the hard way.

One wonders when there will be enough awareness in this country that citizens would learn to question the ‘civilised robbers’, question them, fight them and fix them. Newspapers in the meantime will be busy with Anwar’s sodomy or Ketuanan Melayu debates or New Parliament in Putrajaya, while this nation is being robbed by those who are supposed to be guardians.

Musa fears ‘fixed deposit’ tag a liability

Sabah Umno, under the leadership of Musa Aman, has come under heavy fire from smaller Barisan Nasional coalition members for its arrogance.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman is worried that the “fixed deposit” tag affixed to the state Barisan Nasional (BN) may have one foot in the grave.

Speaking to delegates at the simultaneous opening of the Libaran Umno women’s wing and youth wings, Musa who is also Sabah BN chairman said they should not take for granted that the coalition has a firm hold on power in the state.

Giving a sneak peak of disquiet within the BN ranks, Musa warned that there are “elements” that were capable of jeopardising the coalition’s chances in the coming 13th general election.

“We must always be wary of the enemies within and outside the party and ensure that there are no elements that can break Umno,” he told the delegates in Sandakan on Sunday.

The Sabah Umno leadership under Musa has come under fire from within and outside the coalition for its unfair treatment and unilateral decision-making in state affairs.

Smaller BN coalition members, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), have all strongly criticised Sabah Umno for its go-it-alone approach on state matters.

They have warned that the BN government could suffer major damage in the coming election due to the arrogance of top Sabah Umno leaders.

Even Sabah Umno’s main supporter within the coalition, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), worried that its supporters are having second thoughts about the party, has cautioned Umno leaders at federal level to look into the myraid of problems or risk losing the state.

Political strategist have also noted that all is not well within Sabah Umno.

Musa is wary of a leadership threat from Umno national vice-president Mohd Shafie Apdal.

It is common knowledge that Shafie and Musa are on poor terms.

Phantom voters

Shafie himself has warned Umno leaders, who placed importance on holding onto positions, that they would remain merely ‘party leaders’ if they failed to strengthen the party ahead of the coming general election.

A source who requested anonymity said that the “fixed deposit” tag that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had placed on the state could be a liability going into next election.

“Most Sabahans read the tag as a boast by the federal government and Umno that they have taken control of the state by using phantom voters during elections to tip the balance in the coalition’s favour.

“And there is nothing that the electorate can do about it,” said the source.

The swift release on Sunday of former Sabah Umno member Mohd Akjan Ali Muhammad, a businessman with strong ties to the Filipino community in the state  who was arrested last week, is seen as a bid to mollify his supporters.

According to political activists, many in the community are recruited during elections to vote for BN candidates and the government can ill afford to antagonise them in the run-up to the general election.

Akjan was arrested following a hue and cry when he declared himself to be the 33rd reigning Sultan of Sulu on Feb 2.

He and several others were detained under the ISA in the mid 1990s after he was allegedly caught with a briefcase containing about 2,000 Identity Cards at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport on a return flight from Kuala Lumpur.

It was alleged then that he was selling these documents for up to RM3,000 to those who were not qualified to hold them.

How he came to be in possession of the documents was never explained.

Musa-linked money laundering still on HK radar

A Sabah businessman who was arrested at the Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong carrying S$16 million in cash has yet to explain why he was doing so.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Kong anti-corruption authorities are still hot on the trail of a money laundering operation linked to Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.


Almost three years after the arrest of a Sabah businessman, Michael Chia, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said the case was still open.

Chia, who is said to be a proxy for Musa, was in August 2008 detained at the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong.

He was carrying a bag allegedly containing S$16 million in cash.

The arrest and subsequent revelations on the eve of the Permatang Pauh by-election stunned Sabahans.

The August 2008 by-election saw PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim return to Parliament after a decade-long absence.

Rumours have it that the matter was quickly hushed up after Musa agreed to help then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with election funds.

Chia had also subsequently issued denials over reports of money-laundering activities and allegations that he was a proxy for Musa.

But at no point since has he clarified what he was doing with S$16 million in cash.

Chia has since been released on bail.

Yesterday ICAC in an official reply to a query from FMT regarding the outcome of investigations said: “We don’t comment on operational matters.”

Acting chief press information officer Alan Tse declined to answer further questions posed by FMT relating to the case.

Monitoring inflow

On Nov 5, 2008, three ICAC officers arrived in Kota Kinabalu seeking information on the background of Chia, a Sandakan businessman, as well as a senior lawyer and a top state leader.

They left on Nov 7 after gathering documents and seeking the help of Malaysia’s ACA or Anti-Corruption Agency (now Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or MACC) to meet witnesses.

According to sources, the ICAC probe is focused on several hundred million ringgit purportedly found in the bank account of a Sabah lawyer allegedly holding it as trustee for a top Sabah politician.

The ICAC, it was revealed, had been monitoring the inflow of large amounts of monies from Sabah to the account in the Special Administrative Region for the past three to four years.

The ACA investigations director at the time, Mohd Shukri Abdul, confirmed at a press conference on Nov 7 that the ICAC had sought help from the ACA on the case.

He said that the ACA was providing assistance to the ICAC officers in gathering documents and meeting witnesses under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (MACMA).

Shukri said that ACA itself was not conducting any investigations into the matter.

Declining to reveal the specific nature of the ICAC probe, Shukri said: “We cannot reveal details as it is their investigations.”

Shortly after the revelation, PKR Youth head Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin had lodged a report with the ICAC in Hong Kong, providing evidence that Chia and four others were the nominees of Musa.

He also stated that the money was obtained illegally and named several banks where the money was held in trust and urged the authorities to freeze them.

Denied links

According to sources, senior lawyer Richard Barnes was among those who was picked up and flown to Kuala Lumpur where he was questioned by the MACC.

Sources said officers from the commission also took boxes of documents from the lawyer’s office and Barnes was believed to have been detained for more than five days.

Denying any link to reports of money laundering and links to Musa, Chia had reportedly said: “I have no business or political dealings with the chief minister and I am not his nominee.”

Musa has also denied any association or financial dealings with Chia.

“I would like to stress here that I have no political and financial connection with this person,” he had told the local media at the time.

“He’s not my nominee and I have no nominee,” he said.

Musa, when asked if he knew Chia, said: “I know him and as a chief minister of Sabah, I meet a lot of friends and I have many friends.”

Musa’s denial prompted the DAP to lodge a report at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur calling for investigations to clear the air over the reports.

“It does not matter if Musa has denied his involvement; the police and the ACA should proceed with the investigations against him,” DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said.

Opening of the Sabah Legislative Assembly

Musa presenting the TYT's speech to Juhar

Daily Express photo today shows that Sabah Tuan Yang diPertua Negeri standing up to receive the TYT speech in conjunction with the opening of the Sabah Legislative Assembly which is the most important event in Sabah.

This has never happened before that the TYT has to stand up to receive his speech from the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister must explain and guarantee that such breach of protocol must not be repeated.