Ex-CM: Politics a big business in Malaysia

Former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Harris Mohd Sallah (1976-1985) said Malaysians entering politics are not out to serve the people but use it as an avenue to enriching themselves with some of them making lots of money within a span of few years.

"Their business is not in the production of goods and adding economic value but act as a-go-betweens and enriching themselves as well as some people in power," he told Mary Chin, a journalist with Daily Express, Sabah's oldest and independent newspaper established in 1963.

Harris, who headed the Parti Berjaya Government until toppled by Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan's Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in 1985, asserted that after enriching themselves the politicians migrate to other countries.

He said in tha case of Sabah, there were forces at wortk that `are not bothered and do not care whatever happenes to Sabah and Sabahans.

Harris was commenting on views by economist Tan Sri Sr Ramon Navaratnam telecasted over ASTRO last week.

M'sia in the Club of Doom says ex-Chief Minister Harris

By Joe Fernandez as posted on Sept 15, 2010 at http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh sees Malaysia's existing political and administrative system as heading towards a "failed state status" within the next 20 to 30 years. He described these states as the "Club of Doom".

However, he rules out the system in Malaysia changing from within or on its own as "it's so entrenched that it's difficult, if not impossible (for it), to change".

"It's on public record that many leaders who have reportedly committed wrongdoings are being elected again and again," said Harris. "These wrongdoings have been widely reported in the media."

Harris' remarks were delivered in a prepared pre-Aidilfitri talk on leadership to students, in a run-up to Malaysia Day tomorrow, at Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara (UiTM) here. His talk just became available to the media.

"The main contributing factor is that the voters are not politically and economically independent," said Harris. "The voters depend for their livelihood on political patronage."

Race and religion, he said, played the most important part in selecting a leader.

Reiterating the central theme in his talk that the present system was dated, he opined that the country had the largest number of restrictive laws and policies, quite a number exceedingly harsh, "and not conducive for the citizens to move forward".

Malaysia also had the largest number of "this and that", he pointed out.

As examples, he cited the number of civil servants and the number of agencies per population and the most number of public holidays – 48 – in the world.

"Surely, all these are not conducive for the citizens to move forward."

'Possible to change for the better'

Harris expressed confidence, without getting into any specifics, that it is still possible for the country to change for the better, but only once the voters are politically and economically independent.

"Once this is attained, a responsible leader will emerge and lead the country," he said.

"Then there will be good laws and policies."

Harris, who dropped out from school after Year Six, described a policy as an extension of the law and a guideline for the implementation (resolution) of a particular issue "and should be the best for any particular issue and for the people".

He used three examples from his Berjaya administration (1976-1985) to explain what good policies are in a government: giving all schoolchildren free uniforms, shoes, books pencils and a packet of milk a day; giving and alienating 15 acres of land each to every landless Sabahan; and increasing the payment of dividends from Yayasan Sabah (Sabah Foundation) from RM100 to RM200 per annum.

"These policies helped almost everyone but they were abolished or revoked by
successive governments," said Harris.

"Thus the schoolchildren, the landless and Sabahans have been deprived."

(The school milk programme in Sabah has been reinstated but only three times a
week and confined to Years One to Three.)

Seething with quiet anger, Harris charged that 90% of the 906,330 acres reserved in 74 locations throughout Sabah for 60,000 people in 1983 were not handed over by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), which replaced Berjaya in 1985.

Instead, he alleged the lands earmarked by his administration were given away by PBS to
local companies which promptly sold them (for a quick profit) to companies based in Peninsular Malaysia.

Denying that he was making up stories, Harris said that Joseph Kurup -- who left PBS in 1994 to form Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah -- revealed all the land details in 2003 amidst allegations that Sabah was the poorest state in Malaysia.

Harris attributed the poverty in the state to, among others, the 60,000 landless growing to nearly 200,000 over the last 27 years.

"The revocation of Berjaya's land policies by the succeeding PBS administration has made Sabah the poorest state in Malaysia over the last 20 years," said

Harris. "Sabah is an agricultural state and an overwhelming number depend on the land for their survival."

'Good laws revoked by government'

Sabah's descent into poverty from being the second richest in Malaysia, said Harris, proves that there's no guarantee that laws and policies made by responsible leaders will be honoured by their successors or successor governments.

"Unfortunately, irresponsible successive leaders and governments have deemed it fit to abolish and revoke important policies for the people."

The former chief minister urged "the eminent professors and lecturers" of UiTM to research the poverty of Sabah and relate it to the successive state governments since independence and their various laws and policies.

Harris expressed no surprise that "even good laws and policies" are often revoked by government leaders.

"Politics has become big business in Malaysia," he explained. "People go into politics not to serve the country but to use it as an avenue to enrich themselves."

The rest of Harris' talk on Malaysia was devoted to Sabah, which he described as an example of what's going wrong elsewhere in the country.

He urged Sabahans and Malaysians to stand up for the truth and "call a spade a spade", citing a saying: "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

He observed that many people at all levels including students, just appear to be condoning – "by their inaction" -- whatever (wrong) is happening around them.

He warned that there will be nothing left for Sabahans within the next 20 to
years except the crumbs and leftovers "if nothing is done today to put things
right". "Leaders, after skimming the wealth of the state within a short time,
migrate to other countries," said Harris.

"With their political patronage and connections, some of the people have managed to make a lot of money within a few years."

There are forces at work who are not bothered what happens to Sabah and Sabahans, added Harris. "Their business is not in the production of goods and adding economic value but to act as go-betweens and enrich themselves and others in power."

This state of affairs, said Harris, "cannot and should not be allowed to go on".

Harris: Umno should revert to how it started

Former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh (1976-1985) statement as published HERE on Dec 14, 2008.

Umno must revert to its original 1946 Constitution and allow an open contest by any member without having to obtain nomination quotas for positions in the party's Supreme Council, said former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh.
"Umno must go back to the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman when there was complete openness in the party as well as the Government. Most important of all, the present practice of awarding contracts or licences through direct negotiations or based on favouritism must be removed and totally eradicated," he said.
Harris said Umno must reinvent and restructure itself in order to overcome corruption, which is among the main challenges faced by the party today.
He suggested that elections to all levels of positions in the Umno hierarchy be open to all contenders and not be subject to nominations by divisions to fulfil quota requirements.
"The President and Deputy President are to be elected directly by all the three million registered members," he said.
Harris said the Government should also raise the monthly allowances of state assemblymen to RM24,000 with a guaranteed bonus of RM500,000 for every term completed and similarly RM36,000 with bonus of RM1 million for Members of Parliament.
He further suggested that the Government establish a special fund from which payments or contributions of RM10 per year are made to all political parties based on their audited registered membership.
It means that Umno with three million members would receive about RM30 million a year that should be used for general administrative costs and party machinery.
Corruption can be countered and eliminated by giving across-the-board salary increments of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent to all Government servants with a minimum salary of RM1,500 for an office boy.
Introducing open tenders for all projects, licenses and other forms of undertakings as well as improving delivery system, he said.
For the restructuring exercise of Umno, Harris said for it to materialise Umno need to have only three wings namely, the main or umbrella Umno under which all men and women members fall, Pemuda Umno (Youth) to change its name to Putera Umno and Puteri Umno to be retained while Wanita Umno is to be dissolved.
"This way is cleaner and will reduce the costs of maintaining and running the party. By putting men and women in the umbrella body, there will be a brighter opportunities to succeed to the top three tiers of Umno hierarchy as well as membership in the supreme council.
Harris hoped the new Umno leadership would seriously look at and consider implementing the above proposals as soon as possible.
"Malaysians expect and demand that the culture of money politics must not only be changed by completely eradicated.
It is only through this change will be a brighter future be created that every Malaysian can look forward to with great pride," he said.

Pairin and PBS the real bullies says Harris

The above are two pages Press statement by former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh in respond to PBS president Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Refer to my earlier posting.
(Please click on the statement to read)

Bernard Maraat a wounded tiger - Agundong

Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) Vice President Datuk Kadoh Agundong (Pix) this afternoon issued a statement to the Press in Kota Kinabalu responding to former Pensiangan Member of Parliament Datuk Bernard Maraat's statement in the Daily Express (also in my earlier posting) today.

Maraat, who was a former PBRS Secretary General, had stated that it would be a waste of tax payers money for PBRS President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup to appeal against the Kota Kinabalu Election Court's decision yesterday to declare his (Kurup) win in Pensiangan in the March 8, 2008 general elections null and void.

Agundong is a former Sabah Culture, Youth and Sports Minister during the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBS) Government. He is best known for defeating then Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh in the April 20-21, 1985 State election in Tenom.

Defeating Harris earned this former teacher and Information Department's field officer the nickname of `Giant Killer'.

Below is the Agundong's Press statement.

Still on the SAPP Convention

Those who attended the convention and below Harris giving his talk.

"Convention on Sabah Issues" organised by SAPP was a success participated by over 1,000 people at Putera Theatre Ballroom. Although invitations were sent out to BN component parties, wakil rakyats, MPs, none of them bothered to attend this convention which specifically touched on issues affecting Sabah and its people.

SAPP president, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, however, thanked Datuk Eric Majimbun (MP Sepanggar), Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui (MP Tawau), DAP Dr. Hiew (MP for Kota Kinabalu), Parti Keadilan Rakyat national vice president Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, Sabah PKR chief Haji Ansari Abdullah, Datuk James Ligunjang, members and the public who turned up for the important convention.

Yong said that the no show by other BN parties showed that they put BN before/above the problems and issues affecting Sabah which was why the convention being organised in the first place.

Panel of speakers who came were Datuk Harris Salleh, former Sabah Chief Minister, who touches on the 20 points, political situation in Sabah and Malaysia, while emphasizing on BN politicians who kowtow to KL to seek favours and the high level of corruption within Umno during its party elections. The other panelist were Tan Sri Simon Sipaun of Suhakam and Mr. Amde Sidik, Daily Express columnist and writer/author.

Points to ponder

Ex-Chief Minister Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh was one of the speakers at the Convention for Sabah Issues organised by Sabah-based Barisan Nasional component (BN) member Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) at the Putera Theatre in Bukit Padang nere Kota Kinabalu.

Harris who was Chief Minister during his Party Berjaya Government (1976-1985) talks on various issues and also had a busy time fielding questions from the floor.

Answering a question, Harris said he did no think that Sabah would be joining the opposition because it would be like `out of the frying pan into the fire.'

Instead, he said what was important is for Umno to change, adding that when he was Sabah Chief Minister, he was never accepted as a Malay by Umno.

He said the `budaya cium tangan' (kissing the hand culture) had become embedded deeply in the BN.

"So how can we win if 60 per cent are those `cium tangan',' he said.

Harris was also asked for the reason why he surrendered Labuan to the Federal Government while he was the Chief Minister.

Using the grandfather, father and son terminology, Harris said a father (State Government) would not hesitate to give his son (Labuan) under the care of the grandfather (Federal Government).

He said the father was confident that the son would be taken good care because the grandfather has everything.

"But we never knew that the grandfather would give the son ikan masin (salted fish) and ask him to walk to school, " Harris said.

Ban from travelling - Politically Motivated says Harris

Former Sabah Chief Minister (1976-1985) Datuk Harris Mohd Salleh has been barred by the Inland Revenue Board (IRD) to leave the country due to non-payment of RM419,715,62 being real property gains tax.

However, Harris, who confirmed to Daily Express last night receiving the letters from IRD dated Feb 22, 2008, said the letters was a `very bad mistake' on the part of the authorities which `bordered on malice or was politically-motivated.'

In the letters signed by Kota Kinabalu IRD's Senior Assistant Director, informed Harris that copies of the letters had been forwarded to the Inspector General of Police and the Immigration Director General requesting them to rake action to prevent Harris from leaving Malaysia unless he had settled the outstanding tax.

Harris said he had referred the matter to his lawyers who would soon be demanding a public apology from IRD plus an appropriate compensation.

"I am not liable to pay the real property gains tax. The IRD had issued a letter in 2005 stating that the land involved in the transaction was not subject to tax."

"Whoever is responsible (for issuing the letters) can expect to face a lawsuit," Harris said.


My Say:

Interesting to see development on this matter.