Sabah is known as the land of frogs, where politicians get super rich by hopping to the highest bidder every time there is a struggle for power in the state. With the next state election approaches, of which the 17th Sabah State Legislative Assembly must be elected by 9 December 2025, the jostle for all the 73 seats has begun. This round, the CEO of the state plunges into a corruption scandal.
The scandal, involving at least eight assemblypersons under the ruling state government of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) led by Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, has seen eight video clips and screenshots of WhatsApp text messages showing them admitting to receiving bribes. Those clips would be the evidence that a whistleblower plans to surrender to the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission).
In one of the audio clips, a dirty assemblyman was heard saying – “You gave in instalments as well 200, 200 and 150”, before a businessman (whistleblower), whose voice has been digitally altered, corrected him and said – “RM200,000, RM200,000, RM100,000; (for a total) RM500,000 sahaja (only).” The Sabah lawmaker, however, argued that he had already spent the money for his luxurious division meeting.
The 17-second recording of conversations involving Sabah assemblymen and contractors regarding corruption activities has surfaced after a lawyer engaged by the businessman played the audio clip for the MACC officers. Obviously, the recording of the corrupt Sabah lawmakers discussing the bribery transaction is being exposed after a business deal had gone haywire.
The scandal becomes explosive and caught the attention of the MACC after the lawyer sought whistleblower protection for his client from the graft busters before promising more details. Had the project been approved or the bribery money returned to the businessman after the project was scrapped, the corruption scandal would not have seen the light of the day.
Apparently, the businessman-turned-whistleblower admits that he had spent a whopping RM3 million bribing Chief Minister Hajiji, along with his 8 assemblymen. Why did he bribe the lawmakers in the first place? That’s because he had no choice after a CEO of the GLC (government-linked companies) confirmed that licenses would be given out only to those with support of powerful (and corrupt) assemblymen.
Lending credence to his allegation of corruption at the highest office of the Borneo state is a video clip recording of Mr Jontih Enggihon, former CEO of state-owned company Sabah Meneral Management Sdn Bhd, who has accused Hajiji of abusing his power. He reveals how orders were issued to 5 contractors who already got exploration license and have spent millions of Ringgit on exploration, to be removed from 5 plots of land by a timber tycoon from Tawau.
So, the scandal involved not only the whistleblower businessman, but also other contractors who were equally frustrated to be told to relocate to other areas after spending 2 years exploring minerals. And the stop work order came from the chief minister’s office because of a letter from one extremely powerful crony (timber tycoon) linked to the corrupt Hajiji himself.
It’s not rocket science that the businessman, who wanted to expose all the eight Sabah assemblymen (as well as Chief Minister Hajiji), felt cheated after the project license was cancelled despite having dished out so much money in bribes in exchange for supporting the project. The lawmakers’ refusal to return the money was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
While MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki has confirmed that a recording was played to his officers by the lawyer on Oct 30, he has refused to guarantee immunity for the whistleblower from being investigated. He said – “In order for us to give immunity, the person will have to come forward and present themselves to the agency and lodge a report. On immunity, protection will be revoked if the person is found to be involved in a crime”.
The problem isn’t about filing an official complaint with the MACC to enable the process of protection under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, as demanded by Azam Baki. The question is whether the authorities can and will protect the whistleblower, let alone granting immunity to the witness from prosecution. Already, the whistleblower has lodged a police report after receiving death threats over the videos.
He then turned to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, writing a letter to the most powerful man in the country for protection and immunity in exchange for testifying against the corrupt Sabah politicians. Yet, despite that letter, in addition to two letters to the MACC and three meetings between his lawyer and MACC Intelligence Division director Zainul Darus, the authorities refused to provide guarantees.
In fact, one of the corrupt lawmakers caught in the audio recordings – Sindumin state assemblyman Yusof Yacob – has tried to insult people’s intelligence with a suggestion that the clip could be the result of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The chairman of Qhazanah Sabah Berhad appears to have admitted to taking bribes, but is trying to create a diversion or excuse.
As expected, Chief Minister Hajiji has claimed innocence, saying he has nothing to hide and is willing to cooperate. Yet, he wanted the MACC to arrest and investigates those who gave the bribes first – an admission that he had taken bribes. The trick was to silence and eliminate the whistleblower with threats of an arrest – even prosecution. By focussing on the witness or bribe giver, there will be no case against the bribe takers.
Interestingly, but predictably, PM Anwar, whose government depends on the Sabah state government to provide key support to ensure a parliamentary super majority, has rejected the whistleblower’s request, arguing that protection is only for the clean. Perhaps he can explain why Jasmine Loo Ai Swan was given protection as prosecution witness against Najib Razak in the 1MDB scandal.
Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) general counsel Jasmine Loo is using the witness protection “programme” to “unofficially” avoid prosecution by Swiss authorities for her role in the company’s financial scandal. And there were a dozen top executives involved in the 1MDB corruption scandal who escape prosecution by becoming witnesses against crooked Najib.
In truth, sometimes you need to protect a small crook to prosecute a bigger crook. You don’t need a math genius to tell you that protecting 1 small crook (bribe giver) in exchange for sending 9 crooks (bribe takers) to prison is a huge victory. Is Anwar trying to say he’s willing to let go of Hajiji and his gang of crooks just because the person who is willing to testify was a bribe giver (even though he was forced to)?
Take for example Indonesia, a highly corrupted country where many foreigners experienced the shocking corruption culture of paying small bribes to the grease the hands of the immigration. From Jakarta to Bali, custom officers would openly demand cash, without which they would send you into an interrogation room unless you paid them. Do you prefer to pay them and called a bribe giver, or take the next available flight back home?
Therefore, it’s not entirely true that only the clean one is eligible for protection and immunity. It’s actually up to the authorities or the government whether they want to protect you or not. In the case of the latest corruption scandal in Sabah, the Anwar government could collapse if the premier does not show that he can close both eyes on corruption involving allies like Hajiji-led GRS.
Make no mistake – Anwar is glaringly being selective in fighting corruption. Despite blowing his horn, the MACC understood that the Big Boss isn’t interested in corruption cases involving UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, world’s biggest crook Najib Razak or Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji. Anwar’s interest is to prosecute political enemies like Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Daim Zainuddin.
Not only Anwar Madanistan government suddenly announced the appointment of Nooryana Najwa Najib, daughter of disgraced Najib Razak, as a director of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), the prime minister has shamelessly given deep discounts to ex-PM Najib’s jail sentence and fines. Heck, Anwar is even working very hard to free the crook from prison under “bungalow arrest”.
On the same day Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister on Nov 24, 2022, GRS switched sides and swiftly pledged its support for the new unity government, allowing Pakatan Harapan to enjoy two-thirds majority in the Parliament. On Dec 10, GRS chairman who is also Sabah Chief Minister – Hajiji Noor – announced that leaders of Sabah Bersatu had quit the party en masse.
Political-wise, it’s not hard to understand why the prime minister must protect friendly-Hajiji (rather than the businessman scammed by the lawmakers) and his gang by hook or by crook. The 2023 Sabah political crisis, which exploded after Sabah UMNO chief Bung Moktar Radin led – and failed – a rebellion to topple Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, was actually a proxy war between UMNO and Bersatu.
So, while Hajiji is untrustworthy and will not blink twice about switching sides to opposition Perikatan Nasional in the next 16th General Election, he still commands the support of 56 out of 79 assemblymen, giving him enough seats to continue as Sabah chief minister, thanks to five Sabah UMNO assemblymen who went rogue and pledged support for the enemy during Bung’s 2023 half-baked coup.
Besides 42 GRS assemblymen, Mr Hajiji’s support came from Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan (7), Barisan Nasional (4), PAS Islamist party (1), and KDM (2). Anwar’s own party PKR (People’s Justice Party) has only 2 seats in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly. In order to cling to power, the premier cannot afford to offend Hajiji, whose scandal could be a plot hatched by rival UMNO.
However, the fact that the whistleblower has resorted to begging the King Sultan Ibrahim for protection is sending the wrong message that PM Anwar was not only lame and weak, but also cannot be trusted in fighting corruption. The whistleblower has a valid reason to demand for protection. After the gruesome murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais in 2015 for leaking information about 1MDB subsidiary SRC International, the whistleblower too can suddenly go missing. -financetwitter
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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