Sabah UMNO Leaders Create History

Leaders of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) from Sabah created history at the on-going party congress held in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. UMNO is the largest of 13 component parties which make up the National Front (BN), Malaysia's ruling coalition.

They achieved many firsts in the party election held over the last two days. Leading the pack is Datuk Shafie Apdal who won one of the three UMNO vice-presidencies, the first Sabahan to do so since the party entered the State in 1990.

The vice-presidency is considered the 3rd highest-ranking in the party heirachy after the president and deputy president. Since there are 3 vice-presidents, the candidate who gathered the most votes at the party election would be considered the most senior among the trio.

The vice-president normally holds a senior portfolio in the Malaysian Cabinet, unless he is the Chief Minister or Mentri Besar of a State. The vice-presidency is also seen as a stepping stone for the deputy presidency and eventually the coveted presidency.

Presently, Shafie is Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage and formerly Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister. Prior to his promotion to the full ministership, he served as Deputy Minister in a couple of Ministries.

Shafie's political star started shinning after his election as a Member of Parliament for Semporna in 1995. He was soon appointed a Parliamentary Secretary (a post which has since been abolished) until his promotion as a Deputy Minister.

Prior to today's party election, Shafie was a UMNO Supreme Councillor. The UK graduate has held that post since 1996, another first for a Sabahan.

Before joining politics, Shafie served in the Sabah civil service and was an officer at the State Ministry of Finance. He is a nephew of former Sabah Yang di-Pertua Negeri (Governor) Tun Sakaran Dandai.

Kurup, Yee keep seats

Despite today being Friday the 13th and earlier speculations being not in their favour, both Tan Sri Joseph Kurup (pic) and Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai have a good reason to celebrate.

The Federal Court which sat in Kota Kinabalu decided that Kurup can keep his Pensiangan parliamentary seat in the Interior of Sabah bordering Indonesian Kalimantan while Yee can remain as the Sabah State Assemblyman for Api-Api which is part of the State Capital, Kota Kinabalu.

For the same reason too, Malaysia's ruling National Front (BN) coalition can also rejoice; for both Kurup and Yee are leaders of BN component parties. Kurup is Sabah People's United Party (PBRS) while Yee is deputy president of Sabah United Party (PBS).

Both Kurup and Yee are also lawyers, but Yee is one up. He is also a medical doctor.

Kurup, a Deputy Minister for Rural and Regional Development in the federal government of Malaysia, won the Pensiangan seat in the March 2008 general election. Although there was another candidate at the nomination centre, he won unopposed as his was the only nomination papers submitted to the Returning Officer before the 10am deadline.

This led to the other aspiring candidate, Danny Andipai of the opposition People's Justice Party (PKR) to lodge a petition with the Election Court in Kota Kinabalu. On Sept 17 last year, the Court ruled that Kurup's election was null and void.

Kurup, a first-term MP, filed an appeal to the Federal Court which delivered its ruling today; quashing Election Court judge David Wong's earlier decision. Although the Malaysian legal system has another tier - the Appeal Court - decisions of the Election Court can only be appealed straight to the Federal Court, the nation's supreme court.

"I am very happy and relieved. Now I can focus on doing my work as a deputy minister," said Kurup, a long-time Sabah State Assemblyman and former Deputy Chief Minister until he switched to federal politics.

In the case of Yee, he won the Api-Api state seat also in the March 8 election last year; albeit with a slim majority of only 174 votes. However, instead of the losing candidate, a petition was filed by a voter, Audrey Karen Barry, believed to be the proposer for Yee's opponent and fellow-lawyer Christina Liew also of PKR.

The Election Court ruled in Yee's favour. Audrey appealed and the Federal Court upheld the lower court's decision today. It is believed that Liew did not file the petition herself so she could act as counsel for Audrey.

Today's court decisions must have come as a relief and consolation,even sweet revenge to the BN as it was only yesterday that the Federal Court in Kuching, State Capital of neighbouring Sarawak upheld an Election Court decision that an opposition MP from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) remained the elected representative.

Sabah BN MP thrown out of Parliament!

The Member of Parliament for Ranau, Siringan Gubat, was thrown out of Dewan Rakyat, the Lower House of the Malaysian Parliament this morning.

Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Haji Mulia suspended the first-term MP at about 11.35am after the latter interrupted him. However, Pandikar said Siringan could return at 2.30pm after the lunch break.

The incident started after fellow MP Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa of the opposition Pan-Islamic Party (PAS) had asked what the government was doing to curb parties that used a narrow perspective of the term 'social contract' to attack other races in their speeches.

His question created an uproar.

As the MP for Parit Buntar finished asking his question, he said he heard someone call him "bodoh" (stupid).

So he shouted: "Kalau jantan, berdiri sekarang. (If you are man enough, stand up.)"

This led the Speaker to advise MPs to behave themselves.

Just as Pandikar finished speaking, Siringan, who remained seated instead of standing up and seeking permission to speak, said: "Ngam, Tuan Speaker, Ngam.(Correct, Mr Speaker, Correct.)"

The Speaker immediately asked him to leave the House. Siringan asked if he could be forgiven, but the Speaker stood firm.

However, when met by reporters at the Parliament lobby, Siringan said he was not angry over the Speaker's ruling.

"I did not ask for permission when I said that. If it is not right, I am sorry about that.

"It is ok, I am alright," he said.

Although it is common for Opposition MPs to be sent out of the Malaysian Parliament, Siringan was the first government backbencher to be suspended, at least since the current House was convened after the March 2008 election. Another first was that both Pandikar and Siringan happen to be Sabahans.

"In suspending Siringan, Pandikar was also trying to show that being a fellow Sabahan MP and a backbencher doesn't save one from suspension," a political observer commented.

Siringan, also known as Alliance, first shot to political fame when he defeated his former boss, the late Datuk Mark Koding, in a by-election for the State Constituency of Ranau in 1989. The present Ranau parliamentary seat was then known as Kinabalu.

Siringan, a university graduate from the United States, was Koding's political secretary when the former was Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Industrial Development under the Sabah United Party (PBS) government.

Prior to the by-election, Koding was sacked as a member of the State Cabinet by then Chief Minister and PBS president Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan for allegedly undermining the State Government and Pairin's leadership.

Siringan stay put in PBS and was chosen as the ruling party's candidate against his former boss in the ensuing by-election.

Although Siringan remained Ranau Assemblyman until 2004, he switched party in 1994 after the collaspe of the PBS government which had won with only a slim majority in the March election that year.

He joined the Sabah Democratic Party (PDS) led by a former Deputy Chief Minister under the PBS government, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok. PDS was one of the splinter groups formed by former PBS leaders and all of which joined the new ruling coalition, BN.

PDS later changed its name to the United Pasok-Momogun Kadazan Organisation (UPKO) by which time Siringan had become an Assistant Minister under the new National Front (BN) government.

Dompok himself became Chief Minister under the BN's unique system of rotation of the post whereby the Muslim Natives, Non-Muslim Natives, and Chinese take turns to become CM for two years. However, Dompok served for only 9 months as he was defeated in the 1999 state election by a PBS candidate. The system has since been scrapped and the present CM, Datuk Musa Aman has been one since 2003.

Dompok was however elected MP after he moved to Kinabalu (later Ranau) in the parliamentary election held a few months later and was subsequently appointed a Federal Minister. Re-elected Ranau MP in 2004, Dompok however moved back to his former parliamentary constituency of Penampang in 2008; thus enabling Siringan to take his place.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, Happy Birthday to me. Today is my birthday. So what?, you may ask. It's just another birthday, you may say.

But to me, it's not just another birthday. You see, it's my 55th birthday! So what's the big deal? What are the implications?

The 'big deal', according to my friend who turned 55 a few years ago, is "YOU HIT 55 ONLY ONCE!".

The implications are many. But the most important of which is the Malaysian government classifies those 55 years and above as Senior Citizens. After all, 55 used to be the retirement age for civil servants, me included. But the retirement age has since been increased to 56 a few years ago and, since last year, 58.

After all, the retire at 55 policy was one of the many legacies left behind by the former British colonial government. It is believed that the expatriate officers delibrately set the retirement age at 55 so that when they return to Britain they would still be young enough to enjoy their retirement life.

But even 58 is still young, if compared to a lot of other nations. For example, Malaysia's neighbour Singapore's civil servants retire at 62. Even then, they are talking about further extending it. Filipinos, if I'm not mistaken, retire at 60.

So, coming back to my case, under the old system of 55, I would have retired today; assuming today is a working day for civil servants. But what happened a few years ago was, I think, the Malaysian government finally realised that if one retires when he achieves 55 years of age, he is actually retiring on his last day of 54. So,by extending it to 56, only then the mistake was corrected. In other words, I was "saved by the bell", to borrow the title of a Bee Gees song famous in the 60s-70s.

Then, last year, the Malaysian government finally realised that even 56 was still too young for one to retire; considering that most other countries have higher retirement age. Besides, it would be a financial burden to pay a retired officer his pension and still have to pay his successor full salary.

So, the solution is to increase the retirement age and this the Malaysian government did last year, further increasing it to 58. Going by the present global or at least regional trend, and according to rumours, there is every hope that the Malaysian civil servants' retirement age would be further increased to 60 in the near future. Hopefully, this would become a reality before I hit 58 in 3 years' time. If that happens, I would then be saved by the bell a second time.

Coming back to my newly-gained Senior Citizen status, other benefits include special treatment when you use government facilities. Such as at government hospitals, you get priority when taking a number to wait for your turn including at the pharmacy.

Another benefit, though I am not sure if they still do it, is getting half-price for Malaysian Airlines' economy class tickets.

Though the retirement age for Malaysian civil servants has been increased to 58, a member can still withdraw all his Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) savings when he reaches 55 as the EPF Board has not changed its law. Unfortunately, I am not a member as, being a civil servant, I am on the Permanent & Pensionable scale.

So how did I spend my 55th birthday? Lucky for me, today is a non-working day for civil servants so I didn't have to wake up early. I woke up at 8am only because I was hungry. Accompanied by my wife (my two sons still sleeping), I went to Hilltop shophouses for fish slice soup as breakfast. The corner shop facing the Lintas highway, next to UNITAR at Wisma Prudential.

Read newspapers when I got home and then fell asleep again. I woke up after 2pm, again feeling hungry (the fish soup was not heavy). Wife said she wasn't cooking as she wasn't hungry (women eat less than men). So I helped myself with biscuits I found in the kitchen, then took my bath and get ready to go to Church for evening Mass.

But what made me so sleepy? Last nite I waited the clock to strike 12 when I would be officially 55. I wouldn't want to miss that moment, just like people waiting for New Year. Then I knelt down before the altar in my house and prayed. I thanked God for allowing me to live until 55 and, hopefully, many more years to come. Then only I went to sleep.

I am not trying to potray myself as a holy man here, but, after seeing my brother-in-law died suddenly at the age of 46 ten years ago, I know how precious life is. It was also his death which brought me closer to God and converted me to a 'renewed' or so-called 'Born Again Christian'. After being a member of the Benevolent Ministry (whose job involves praying for the dead at the funeral parlour and the deceased's home) of my church's Prayer Group for almost 10 years now, I know how fragile life can be and how God can take away anything anytime. How can I ever forget, for example, one Christmas evening a few years ago, when most Christians were celebrating, I found myself praying, playing the guitar and singing religious hymns at the funeral parlour for a young air hostess killed in an accident on Christmas eve.

So I am now a Senior Citizen now! But am I ready to accept that? Am I really that old? Isn't age just a number? Do I want to be called old? Or even an uncle? The first test was the Evening Mass at the church a few hours ago. The front rows were reserved for Senior Citizens. But would I sit there? No way! After all, those sitting there are normally those in their 70s or at least 60s. May be I'll join them in a few years' time when I officially retire but certainly not now. Pride? Ego? Blame it on human nature. I am human, remember? As they say in Malay, 'kalah malu!'.

After Mass, my family brought me to the King Hu restaurant in Tanjung Aru for dinner. They knew it was my favourite. They also knew my favourite dish there was the Peking Duck which comes with complimentary duck-bone soup. The way to eat it is you put the duck meat slice on a popiah skin toigther with onion leave, add the special sauce, wrap it, and put it in your mouth. Not cheap though, one duck RM70. Then went home, then only they took out the surprise birthday cake. I spent the next few hours until midnite writing this post which you are reading now.

Some of you might notice that my last post was in January, despite my New Year resolution of one post a day. They say that promises are meant to be broken. But they also say that it doesn't matter how many times you fall but what's important is getting up each time after you fall!

So, my birthday (55th, remember?) gave me another chance to make amends. Let's see if I can do it this time. Give me another chance, will you? Even God forgives people. Even prisons give inmates a chance to lead a new life after their release by rehabilitating them. That's why USA calls their prisons correctional facilities. Even drug addicts are rehabilitated by the government.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Do come back. Give this 'old man' a chance. Thank you and God bless.

Sandakan, Tawau get new Presidents

KOTA KINABALU: Engineer James Wong was today appointed as the new President of the Sandakan Municipal Council (MPS).

Hajiji (left) handing over appointment letter to Wong

Ir. Wong, 53, took his oath-of-office before Sabah's Minister for Local Government and Housing, Datuk Haji Hajiji Haji Noor at the Ministry in Kota Kinabalu.

Ismail (right) receiving his appointment letter from Hajiji

He later took his pledge of good conduct (Akujanji) as a civil servant in front of the Ministry's permanent secretary, Datuk Haji Ujang Haji Sulani; witnessed by the Minister.

Wong taking his oath-of-office before Hajiji

Also present were Hajiji's assistant minister, Datuk Ghulam Bahadar Khan and deputy permanent secretarty, Haji Ahmadshah Talib.

Wong signing his acceptance of appointment

Wong, who has been the General Manager of the Sabah State Railway Department for the past 2 years, replaced MPS president Yeo Boon Hai who has been appointed the new Director-General of the Kota Kinabalu Municipal Council (DBKK).

Ismail taking his oath-of-office before Hajiji

It is a promotion for both Wong and Yeo.

Hajiji is the minister-in-charge of all the local authorities in Sabah including municipal and district councils and the Kudat Town Board but excluding DBKK which is under the Chief Minister's Department.

Ismail signing his oath-of-office before Hajiji

At the same ceremony, Ismail Hj Mayakob was appointed acting President of the Tawau Municipal Council. Both Sandakan and Tawau are on the East Coast of Sabah.

Ismail taking his Akujanji (Pledge)

He took over from Haji Salsidu Ibrahim who is now the Director of the State Government Printing Department. Ismail has been Salsidu's deputy before this.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, Hajiji advised the two new presidents to work hard and be people-friendly. He urged them to identify the urgent problems without neglecting the basics like cleanliness and garbage collection.

A group photograph with the two new Presidents

Congratulating the two gentlemen on their appointment, he however expressed confidence that they with their vast experience would be able to meet the people and government's expectations.

The 2 new Presidents - Ismail (left) and Wong

Conrad gets 6 months

Former Sabah Minister Datuk Conrad Mojuntin (pic) was jailed for six months by the High Court in Kota Kinabalu today for criminal intimidation.

The former State Minister for Culture, Youth and Sports under the former Berjaya government was jailed for criminally intimidating businessman Doughty Disimon, 30, outside the SJD Cafe & Sports at about 3.30am on Oct 23, 2005. behind the Public Bank in Donggongon, Penampang near Kota Kinabalu.

However, Judicial Commissioner Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli allowed a stay of execution of the sentence pending appeal and fixed bail at RM5,000 with two sureties.

Abdul Rahman also fined Conrad, 60, and his nephew , David Mojuntin, 44, RM2,000 in default three months jail each for voluntarily causing hurt to businessman Chee Hee Fatt, 45, at the same place at 4am on the same day.

They paid the fines.

On Dec 17, the High Court allowed the prosecution's appeal and overturned the Magistrate Court's acquittal of the Mojuntins on all charges in March last year.

In allowing the appeal, Abdul Rahman held that the magistrate had seriously misdirected himself when he ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The Mojuntins were represented by counsel Zahir Hussein Shah while deputy public prosecutor Salim Soin appeared for the prosecution.

Conrad is the younger brother of the late Kadazan leader Datuk Peter Mojuntin, the former Minister for Local Government and Housing who was killed along with the Chief Minister, Tun Fuad Stephens and two other Sabah Ministers in an air crash on June 6, 1976.

Stephens' 9-month-old Berjaya party had just won the State general election two months earlier, ousting the Alliance party (Usno-Sca) which ruled Sabah from 1967.

Conrad was chosen as Berjaya's candidate in the ensuing by-election in his late brother's constituency, Moyog in Penampang, considered the heartland of Kadazan nationalism since the early 1960s.

Upon winning, Conrad was made Assistant Minister for Finance before being promoted to full minister in the early 1980s. Berjaya lost to the one-and-a-half month old Sabah United Party (PBS) in 1985. Conrad was among the election casulties, failing to defend his Moyog seat.

Doughty is the son of former Sabah Housing & Town Development Authority (LPPB) general manager Sylvester Jomitod Disimon. The SJD Cafe, which has since ceased operations, was named after him. Now a retiree, Sylvester is the Chairman of the Penampang branch of the Kadazan Society of Sabah (KKS).

(Source: Bernama and Sikmading)