A SERIES OF SPECIAL REPORTS
Part 1: Preaches one thing and practices another
WHEN Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat became the 13th Chief Minister of Sabah under the now-scrapped Chief Minister rotation system in 2001, he outlined his three priorities: to tackle the illegal immigrant issue, illegal logging and fish-bombing.
It cannot be denied that the three problems are pressing issues which ought to be dealt with urgently before they become unmanageable.
The illegal immigrant issue, for instance, is a long-standing problem which dates back to the 1970s. It started off as an exodus of political refugees to Sabah as a result of conflict in the Southern Philippines. However, their numbers swelled rapidly to include those who came to the state later in search of better economic opportunities. Their continued presence in Sabah will therefore not only contribute to social problems but also undermine the state’s security.
Fish bombing has become a rampant activity which not only destroys fish but also other smaller marine resources. Fish bombing is said to be the main cause of destruction to coral reefs along Sabah’s coastal waters. The setting up of the special committee is therefore very timely to curb fish bombing activities which not only threaten fishery resources but also other precious underwater living organisms. It was understandable for Chong to include it as one of his priorities as he was also the State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister at that time.
Illegal logging, on the other hand has the same destructive effect on the environment. Indiscriminate felling of trees can lead to environmental defects such as landslides, pollution
to rivers and streams, loss of water catchment areas and revenue loss to the government in the form of taxes.
Unfortunately, during his two-year tenure, Chong had not only failed to curb illegal logging activities but made full use of his position and authority to increase logging activities. The best part was, he awarded hundreds of thousand hectares of timber land to his cronies including his best pal - Tan Sri KK Chai.
Chong also awarded Powers of Attorney (PA) to individuals who are closed to him besides rigging the timber loyalties, fixing them as low as possible, to benefit his cronies, thus effectively and blatantly looting the State Treasury, and the people of Sabah. It must be put on record that no other Chief Minister in Sabah had ever done something so blatant. (CLICK TO see proofs)
It was also reliably learnt that he even made used of another crony, Joseph Vun, who is a retired commercial crime officer, to confiscate logs that were illegally felled under the pretext of combating illegal loggings, but in actual fact, to extort the illegal loggers.
As for the illegal immigrant and the related fish-bombing issues, records showed that he had failed miserably to address these problems. This was simply because his so-called actions on these two aspects were mere ‘window-dressing’ act than anything. The so-called operations against the illegal immigrants were done selectively in his or his cronies’ best interest. Take the clearing of the infamous ‘Ice Box’ squatters colony in Tawau for example, the chief aim was to acquire the prime land for commercial development. His superficial, ad hoc action against the illegal immigrants also caused the spreading of this transient population into the rural areas which thus created a new problem for the State government and the local population, until today. What is more alarming is that there are more electoral constituencies in these areas, making it possible for a reverse take-over in the future.
It was also a public knowledge that Chong even enlisted the help of the ‘phantom voters’, a majority of whom are the illegal immigrants, which were ferried by busloads to his Tanjung Kapor constituency to help secure his position in the 2004 general election, and subsequently in 2008 in aid of his protégé cum successor, Datuk Teo Chee Kang.
To be continued….
