The NEP is paying for Umno Sabah's building

MALAYSIA TODAY SPECIAL REPORT

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In part 8 of this special report on the New Economic Policy (NEP), we spoke about the current war in Umno Sabah, which was triggered by the huge amount of money collected in the name of Umno Sabah and which somehow seems to have mysteriously disappeared. But it has not really disappeared as such. It is all sitting snugly in Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s various bank accounts outside Sabah, in particular in Singapore.

When Musa took over as the Sabah Chief Minister on 27 March 2003, he declared his assets as RM300 million. How he could have amassed all that wealth as merely Sabah’s Finance Minister is of course another story altogether and this was previously reported by Malaysia Today in our series on Sabah called Where did the money go? (22 February 2005), Musa Aman hidden hand (25 August 2005), The RM11 Billion silap mata (sleight of hand) (18 August 2005), and many more all which can be viewed here in ourSpecial Reports for Sabah section.

Nevertheless, the RM300 million which Musa declared on ascending the chair of Sabah’s Chief Minister barely three years ago is not the crux of the matter here. What is the bone of contention amongst Umno Sabah leaders is how can he, from 27 March 2003 until today, just under three years, see his assets spiral from just RM300 million to an estimated RM900 million?

The ‘platform’ used to amass this wealth, as usual, is of course the NEP. State projects, contracts, and land as well as timber concessions are parcelled out to a handful of the same companies, mostly non-Bumiputera, for a certain amount of ‘donations’ to Umno Sabah. Umno Sabah is building its new headquarters so this money is needed to finance the construction -- and 'donations' are perfectly legal when given in ‘good faith’. But the construction of the building is not progressing and the hundreds of millions collected is not going towards completing the building, which since the last two years has hardly seen much progress. This was previously reported by Malaysia Today on 3 December 2004 (The UMNO Sabah building scam perpetuated by Musa Aman).

In that 3 December 2004 report we said as follows:

Umno Sabah is presently building its new headquarters in Karamunsing, Kota Kinabalu. No one in Umno Sabah seems to know the construction cost of the building though -- other than Musa Aman, that is. There has been no building committee formed to oversee the construction of the building and no meetings have ever been held to either discuss details of the building or seek approval from Umno Sabah’s main committee.

In short, Musa Aman is single-handedly managing the entire construction of the building and he is playing his cards close to his chest -- neither informing the other Umno Sabah main Committee Members details of what is going on, nor seeking its approval before embarking on any decision.

But this is not all that is happening. More perplexing is the choice of site.

Umno Sabah actually owns a five-acre piece of prime land close to the Bank Simpanan Nasional building in the swank neighbourhood of the Sutra Resort. For all intents and purposes, this piece of land can be considered a ‘gold mine’. Musa Aman, however, refuses to build the new Umno Sabah building on Umno’s own land. Instead, he is building it on an alternative piece of land in which he has a vested interest. What is the size of this land, whether the entire piece of land or just part of it is being used for this building, and how much has this piece of land been valued for, has not been revealed and no one in Umno Sabah, save for Musa Aman alone, knows the details.

On 15 December 2004, Malaysiakini published a letter from Haniffa called The mystery of Umno Sabah’s new building where he said:

In short, Umno Sabah has entirely no interest in either the land or the building and its name is just being used for purposes best known to those behind this entire scam.

As it is now, no one in Umno Sabah seems to know how much the construction cost of the new building is. But donations are being collected left, right and center (and probably behind as well) from all and sundry.

The donation box is overflowing as it is, yet money is still being collected. No one knows how much money has been collected because there is no committee, meaning no accounts or reports need to be tabled at any meetings.

In reply to the above allegations, the Umno Sabah information Chief then, Rahim Ismail, was asked to issue a statement to The Star on 17 December 2004 titled We have nothing 'to hide'. In this statement, Rahim said, “As far as Sabah Umno is concerned, I can assure you that everything is above board.”

The Star further reported:

Rahim, who is a member of the building committee, declined to say anything else other than stressing that everything about the project was above board. Umno officials said that the land was donated by a private company, with the full knowledge of the party leadership. The new Sabah Umno headquarters, which is expected to be completed next year (2005), would not only house the party’s offices but also banks, shops and a hall with a seating capacity for 2,000 people.

But it is now 2006 and the building is far from complete. And the vast sums of money collected is not in Umno Sabah’s bank account. And Rahim is not prepared to lie anymore and cover Musa’s rear. So, before Rahim -- the man who knows the truth about Umno Sabah’s building and about the money collected allegedly to finance its construction -- spills the beans on Musa, he has to go, and recently he was removed as Umno Sabah’s Information Chief.

What many do not know, Rahim is related and very intimate with the head of Parti Keadilan Rakyat Sabah, Awang Tengah. In fact, Rahim was behind Awang's appointment as the head of the Sabah Forest Department. And Awang holds all the confidential information and secrets about the manipulation of Sabah’s rich forest resources beginning from the time Musa was the State Finance Minister during Chong Kah Kiat’s tenure as Chief Minister.

(See Wagging the dog: when the head has to follow the tail), 1 March 2005, a report on how Sabah’s logs are being sold at RM50 when the market price is RM300 and Special Report on Sabah's logging scandal, 14 February 2005).

One logging concession worth about RM100 billion is currently under legal dispute and this is worrying Musa to no end. Once it goes to court, then the shit will certainly hit the fan. And the knife is in Awang’s hand and all Rahim has to do is show his hand and Musa is dead meat.

Rahim is hopping mad that he has been removed as the Sabah Information Chief. To show his disgust, he stormed out of the January 2006 Umno Sabah meeting. What Rahim did not realise is, it was Musbah Hj Jamli, the head of the Umno Kota Belud division, who is a close ally of Osu Haji Sukam, who spilled the beans. If not, Musa would not have known that Rahim met the prime minister and tried to undermine him by reporting to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi what was going on in Sabah.

Yes, Musbah sold Rahim out and now expect Musbah to be appointed soon to an important position in Umno Sabah -- maybe as the new Treasurer of Umno Sabah, a post currently held by Hajiji Mohd Noor, head of the Tuaran division as well as State Minister of Housing and Local Councils. (Note the post, State Minister of Housing and Local Councils, and note parts 5 and 8 of this special report on the NEP about the RM1 billion housing scam perpetuated by Musbah).

Musa realises that, just like Rahim, Hajiji is dangerous to keep around. Hajiji is trustee to a lot of secrets as far as Umno Sabah's money is concerned. All Hajiji has to do is open his mouth and Musa will fall like a ton of bricks. And if Musa does fall, then Hajiji would be the most likely candidate to replace him as the new Chief Minister. Hajiji, just like Rahim, is also very close to Anwar Ibrahim, which means many of Musa’s secrets can easily fall into the hands of the opposition.

There are no two ways about it. Hajiji must be the next to go after Rahim, and probably Musbah, the man who sold out Rahim, would take his job. It is too risky to allow Hajiji to remain, especially when he would become the beneficiary of any ‘bad luck’ to befall Musa.

A man with so many sins is good to have by your side. Once he gets out of line and starts having visions of going against you, then you can send his file to the Anti-Corruption Agency and his goose is cooked. And Musbah has many sins. So Musbah might yet be the one to replace Hajiji as Umno Sabah’s treasurer, a man who can be easily blackmailed in the event he decides to open his mouth and reveals where the party’s money and the Umno Sabah building fund has disappeared to.

But Rahim Ismail, Hajiji Mohd Noor, Musbah Jamli and Awang Tengah are not Musa Aman’s only worries. On 27 January 2006, Malaysia Today said this:

Expect more heads to roll soon as Musa Aman panics even more.

What triggered off this panic was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to Sabah recently. Many from Umno as well as PBS and Berjaya met him to express their desire to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Whether they believed in the party’s struggle or ideology is another matter altogether, but what they do believe is that Anwar Ibrahim could be that catalyst to see the end of Musa Aman’s and Umno’s rule in Sabah.

Anwar Ibrahim is due back in Malaysia next month and he is scheduled to make another trip to Sabah. Mere news of Anwar’s impending visit is enough to excite Sabah politicians, some who have even contacted Malaysia Today to enquire on how they can reach Anwar so that they can discuss his next visit.

Musa Aman tried to block Anwar’s functions by instructing all the local councils to cancel the bookings of the various halls that had been slotted as the venue for Anwar’s ‘meet the people’ programs. What riled Musa Aman was the fact that some local council heads are ABIM members and understandably pro-Anwar.

And Musa Aman confirmed this in the Daily Express report the following day as follows:

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.

He stressed that all Umno divisional heads to compile reports on these disloyal members, to be submitted to 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.

"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."

The Daily Express also reported:

On another development, Musa disclosed that Kekal Mewah Sdn Bhd had been instructed to do immediate repairs on several sections of the road near Kampung Pinangah, Ulu Kinabatangan.

According to him, Kekal Mewah is one of panel contractors appointed by the State Government to do immediate road repairs in their respective areas.

Hmm.....interesting, and who is Kekal Mewah?

Kekal Mewah is within a group of companies as follows:

PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH HOLDINGS SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH HERBAL SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH TRADING SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH ENGINEERING SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH AQUACULTURE SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH (KOTA KINABALU) SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH (KOTA MARUDU) SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH (BEAUFORT) SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH (KENINGAU) SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH (TAWAU) SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH (SANDAKAN) SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH REALTY SDN BHD
PEMBINAAN KEKAL MEWAH RESORTS SDN BHD

On 21 December 2004, Malaysia Today reported that Kekal Mewah is one of the companies that donated substantially towards Umno Sabah’s building. In the report, we asked, “Did any of these companies donate the land to Umno Sabah? And, if so, what did they get in return?”

Well, our question has now been answered. Kekal Mewah has been given vast road maintenance contracts in return for the money it donated to Umno Sabah’s building.

Last year, Malaysia Today carry a special report on the Umno Sabah building scam: (The Umno Sabah building scam perpetuated by Musa Aman: 3 December 2004) and (We have nothing 'to hide': 17 December 2004) and (Umno Sabah: Talk a lot but say nothing: 21 December 2004) and (Why is Pak Lah protecting Musa Aman?: 27 December 2004). And this is the latest picture of the Umno Sabah building under construction, which has not changed much from the pictures we featured two years ago in 2004.

(See more photographs of the Umno Sabah building here).

Malaysia Today said then that the building costs about RM50 million-RM60 million. Umno Sabah, however, denies this and said it costs only RM35 million. Well, never mind, RM35 million or RM60 million, it is still a lot of money. But that is not the issue here. What is the issue is the fact that an estimated RM100 million to RM200 million has been collected in the name of this building and under the umbrella of the New Economic Policy. And we say ‘estimated’ because no one other than Musa Aman knows the real figure and there are no proper accounts to show.

What is of more concern to the Umno Sabah leaders is the fact that the money is not in Umno Sabah’s bank account. In fact, many of the Umno Sabah leaders do not even know how much money has been collected. This is because the entire thing is being personally handled by Musa. And this has upset many people in Umno Sabah, Rahim included.

Many contractors, loggers and businessmen have complained that they are being forced to ‘donate’ to the Umno Sabah building fund in exchange for State government contracts or logging concessions. Most pay of course because they want favours from the State, or rather from Musa Aman. But they do so grudgingly while complaining loudly to all and sundry about the matter. That was how the estimate of RM100 million to RM200 million came about. Just totalling up the grumblings of the ‘donors’ is enough to arrive at this figure. But what about those who pay quietly without making any fuss? Yes, not everyone kisses and tells, so one can assume that the figure is much higher than what has been revealed thus far.

According to The Star of 17 December 2004, “Rahim, who is a member of the building committee, declined to say anything else other than stressing that everything about the project was above board.”

This was what The Star further reported:

Sabah Umno is of the view that everything is in the clear for its new RM35mil, 11-storey headquarters now under construction in the city.

“As far as Sabah Umno is concerned, I can assure you that everything is above board,” state Umno information chief Datuk Rahim Ismail said, when contacted over a letter that appeared in the website of a local newspaper on Dec 3.

A similar letter was posted on an online newspaper on Wednesday. The letter insinuated that something was amiss in the deal for the construction of the Sabah Umno building on a 0.48ha site in Karamunsing.

Among the questions raised were why Umno did not use its own 2ha land in Sembulan to construct its headquarters and who was overseeing the construction.

The letter purportedly written by someone known as Haniffa, raised various questions on who was the real owner of the new building and if there was any relationship between Sabah Umno and the company developing it.

Yes, that’s right, Rahim knows the true story of the Umno Sabah building and Musa is worried that Rahim would now reveal the truth. So, before he does, Rahim must be removed. Now, if Rahim was to say anything, after he denied in December 2004 any wrongdoing on the part of Musa, he (Musa) can turn round and say that this is just the grumblings of a disgruntled person who is sore that he was removed as the Umno Sabah Information Chief.

It is nice to have something called the NEP which can be used to line your pockets. And who will complain when the money is supposed to be for Umno Sabah, though Umno Sabah's bank accounts don't seem to show any money coming in? But when the Umno Sabah building does not progress after so much money has changed hands, that is when the natives start getting restless.

To be continued....