Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad did
nothing to stop the slide in Sabah's finances, says former chief
Minister Harris Salleh.
KOTA
KINABALU: Former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh has accused Dr
Mahathir Mohamad of duplicity during his 22-year tenure as prime
minister, which saw the Bornean state rapidly fall from riches to rags.
Lashing out at the man who ruled the country with an iron fist from
1981 to 2003, Harris said in a statement that Mahathir was to be blamed
for the current impoverished state Sabah is in.
“Had he mentioned and practised the rule of law, Sabah would remain
the richest state,” Harris said in response to Mahathir’s lecture
recently at Universiti Malaysia Sabah .
Harris was irked by Mahathir’s claim that Sabah, which was declared
as the poorest state in the country by the World Bank, would take back
its mantle as the richest Malaysian state soon.
Harris, who helmed the Berjaya state government from 1976 to 1985,
said there were many instances when the former premier and the federal
government had failed the state.
One instance, he cited, was the federal government’s disregard of an
audit report by Price Water House that pointed to a RM4 billion
shortfall in Yayasan Sabah accounts.
He said even when Mahathir announced the missing funds in 1994, alleging fraud, he failed as a prime minister to act through.
He had all the powers to correct any wrongdoings, recover the funds and prosecute the culprits, but did nothing.
“Anything announced by a prime minister is a serious matter. Since
there was no action taken against the wrongdoers on the issue, the
people take it for granted that the announcement by the then prime
minister was just another political slogan to suit and pacify himself
only,” he said.
If Mahathir proceeded according to the law, Harris said, the people
of Sabah through the foundation, which was set up by the Usno government
in the 1970s, would be richer by RM6 billion now.
‘Dr M knew about fraud’
‘Dr M knew about fraud’
Scoffing at the former premier’s rosy outlook for Sabah in the long
term, he said Mahathir was merely pointing out that the state was rich
in natural resources, a fact widely known.
Based on this fact, he said, Sabah and its people should have become
rich many years ago as the state had been exporting its natural
resources since the time of the British colonial government and right up
to now.
“Unfortunately, nobody dare(s) to single out why Sabah is now the
poorest state in Malaysia,” he said, adding that being endowed with
natural resources does not automatically make a country and its people
rich as could be seen around the world.
He said that an analysis would show that the state was mismanaged by
successive governments and also because the authorities and voters had
been turning a blind eye to corruption right up to the present day.
Harris added that the failure by the federal government to act,
despite clear indications that something was not right in the management
of state resources, only indicated that such corruption and fraud was
condoned.
He also said that despite Mahathir’s optimistic outlook, there was no guarantee that Sabah would become rich anytime soon.
Harris also dismissed claims that Sabah’s rich natural resources
would play a roll in helping to make its people rich as its oil and gas
and oil palm lands are not in the hands of Sabahans.
“Oil and gas are controlled by non-Sabahans and this is also true for
oil palm plantations. Therefore, there is not much left for Sabahans to
do and carry out economic activities,” he said, pointing out that even
workers in both sectors are mostly non-Sabahans.
Harris also said that while more than 90% of the cash from both
sectors was already being siphoned off to Peninsular Malaysia, it was a
“double-whammy” that the federal government had awarded gambling
licences to certain companies.
This, Harris said,will further drain away half-a-billion-ringgit from
the state based on figures gathered by the Sabah Chinese Chamber of
Commerce 10 years ago.
Sabahans’ best bet under the current scenario, he said, was to
gradually move from low income to middle income by planting cash crops
and produce.
He added that the state should also export tapioca starch and chips which were in demand in China.
No comments:
Post a Comment