Harris Salleh praises Musa’s leadership

He says the CM is the only one of his successors who seems to be doing what he did for Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah strongman Harris Salleh has complimented Musa Aman for his leadership of the state, describing the chief minister as the only one of his successors who appears to be coming up to his standards.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with FMT, he said Musa was doing well in picking up the pieces left by previous chief ministers.

Harris, who was president of Parti Berjaya, said the only regret he felt after being voted out in 1985 was having to see successive chief ministers fail to sustain and build on his government’s successes.

“The people chose them to be the leaders,” he said. “I expected them to lead. They should have carried on with what my Berjaya government had done for the benefit of the people.”

But he said Musa seemed different.

“He is steering the state in the right direction again and with the support of economies like China, there is a big chance that he will succeed and bring Sabah back to its glory days, like when Berjaya was in power.

“Under Berjaya, Sabah experienced tremendous growth in its economy and socio-politics, supported by its efficient civil service, thanks to meritocracy.”

Harris became chief minister in 1976, following the plane crash that killed his predecessor and party comrade, Fuad Stephens. He led the state for nearly 10 years before being ousted in an election by Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who had left Berjaya to form Parti Bersatu Sabah.

In speaking of his achievements, Harris seemed especially fond of recalling his decision to start a project to plant acacias in the state. He brought the shrubs into Sabah from Australia. They competed with weeds and were harvested for their wood.

The local name for acacia is “pokok harris”.

Harris spoke of himself as being the person who initiated the development of the Sabah forest industry and the one who kick-started the construction of several facilities, such as the Labuan shipyard, the Sabah flour mill, the Kota Kinabalu International Airport and the Shangri-la Tanjung Aru beach hotel.

He also claimed to have been earnest with his programme to improve the education of Sabahans.

He said the Sabah Foundation under his leadership emphasised the importance of education by providing schoolchildren with free milk, free school uniforms, free shoes, free books, free pencils and other materials.

“We thought we must build these children up not just physically but also mentally. We didn’t choose poor or rich. Everyone got the same thing. We didn’t want anybody to feel discriminated against.

“I hear the programme is on again now, but that children from rich families are not eligible. That is wrong because a six-year-old child does not know whether or not his or her father is rich.”

Neither was a person’s financial position a criterion for eligibility in a programme to give at least 15 acres to every landless Sabahan, he said.

Before the 1985 election, he said, more than 60,000 people had registered for the programme and the government had published a booklet listing down their names and identifying the parcels of land allotted to them.

“We did this because we know the future of the people is land. How else can we provide employment for the people? We are an agricultural country. It is time for the government to realise that.”

Harris also spoke of his determination to purchase two million acres in Darwin and a million head of cattle despite the Australian government’s policy against allowing foreign governments to own agricultural land in the country.

He said he managed to convince Ian Sinclair, who was then the Australian minister of primary industries, to persuade his colleagues to agree to the sale.

“I told him, ‘Sir, you have been helping us under the Colombo plan on a lot of things with bridges, roads, schools, hospitals and even scholarships. Now we are just asking you to give us an opportunity to help ourselves.’

“Later, all was approved. We were the first one to do this, followed by Sarawak and Brunei.

“I don’t know if our farm is still with us, but the Bruneians are definitely still maintaining theirs. Every month they are importing cattle from their farm there.”

Harris said he believed his government would have been able to do much more for Sabah if it was given a few more years to rule.

“Circumstances would have changed. Our policies would be more advanced. We put great emphasis on agriculture and education. If we had 10 more years, Sabah would have been different now.

“But I do not regret that the people did not vote for me. It was their choice.” -FMT