Sabah MP tells Taiwan trip to thwart ‘Sept 16’

Ronald, in his witness statement, described the trip as "a full time study tour".

KUALA LUMPUR: The proverbial cat was out of the bag when it emerged in the High Court on Monday that a so-called study trip to Taiwan by some 40 MPs, on the eve of what has been dubbed as the People’s Revolution of 16 September 2008, was in fact a pre-emptive move.

The trip was from September 7 to 9, 2008.

The admission in Court by Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee raises questions over the years of denials by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Both then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and his deputy Najib Abdul Razak, denied the alleged reasons for the trip. Najib even went on internet TV to make his denial.

Ronald was testifying as a defence witness in a suit involving Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim suing Foreign Minister Anifah Aman for defamation.

Anwar’s lawyer, Ranjit Singh, had asked Ronald regarding the Taiwan trip.

“Wasn’t this trip organized to ensure Barisan MPs were all taken to Taiwan, chaperoned, to prevent further ‘encroachment’ by Anwar? Isn’t that correct, in reality?” Ranjit asked.

“Yes,” replied Ronald.

Ronald, in his witness statement, described the trip as “a full time study tour” during which they “visited agricultural farms, fisheries farms, etc”. Apparently, the trip was organized by the Backbenchers Club then chaired by Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing,

Another claim was that he received a RM 5 million offer over the phone, from someone who introduced himself as a PKR member, to cross over to “the other side”. He admitted, upon being questioned by Ranjit, that the caller could be anyone. The caller, he added, did not contact him again.

He disclosed that the Special Branch officer to whom he related the incident did not get back to him on his report. He did not lodge a police report.

Ronald added that he did not also lodge a police report when Anifah informed him that that he received a RM 100 million offer to defect to the Opposition with a certain number of Sabah MPs. He took the position then that it was Anifah’s responsibility to lodge the police report since he was the one who had been approached.

Anwar’s defamation suit against Anifah, filed in May 2009, follows an incident during a joint news conference in Washington with former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, when the Foreign Minister allegedly uttered defamatory words against the Opposition Leader. The remarks were widely reported.

Anifah claimed that he had been offered the Deputy Prime Minister’s post and a purported sum if he brought along MPs from Sabah to topple the BN which had secured 140 seats in Parliament. Anwar, responding to the claim then, was reported as saying in the media that Anifah had “no standard”, “no clout”, and that no one will offer him that kind of money which he didn’t have anyway.

Anifah’s claims, widely reported in the local and foreign media, were baseless, unfounded and grossly negligent, said Anwar in his Statement of Claim.

‎Judicial Commissioner Siti Khadijah S. Hassan is hearing the case which continues.