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Why is the Sabah chief minister so agitated?

The Sabah chief minister, Dato' Yong Teck Lee, is a very angry man. The opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah vice president Dr Yee Moh Chai wanted to know details of the state investment arm, Warisan Harta, -- chairman Dato' Yong Teck Lee -- "investing" in North Borneo Timber by buying three million shares at RM31.75, on the first day of trading after its suspension. Actually, it dropped another 30 per cent in the afternoon, and then by a similar amount over the next two days. It hovers now around RM15. That it was bought on the first day of the lifting of suspension, and first quote at sharp discount over the pre-suspension price of RM45 should have alerted any half-way decent fund manager that something was wrong, and the chief minister's attack on those questioning the purchase, does, on the surface, indicate that things are not what they seem.

Dr Yee has since been followed by Dato' Yong's National Partners -- UMNO, Gerakan. Dato' Yong's ascerbic high moral ground does him no good. One the face of it, there is some hanky panky. He is asked this question not as chief minister but as chairman of Warisan Harta. The investment has cost the state RM72 million, and the people of the state has the right to question what happened. There is no attempt here, as Dato' Yong alleges, of people pre-judging the issue. That comes when he consistently refused to talk about the purchase.

If he had made the statement at that time instead of yesterday, and had taken time out to explain the circumstances, I am sure he would not be in the corner he is in now. But the presumption no one has the right to question him because he is chief minister and that he should never under any circumstances be questioned about what on the surface seem questionable dealings does not bring him any good, nor the National Front coalition. There is nothing wrong in being the arrogant man he is, but when he relies on the power of arrogance to ride roughshod over questions that he is legitimately asked, well that makes him no less a politician to be derided, as indeed several of his National Front predecessors undoubtedly were. Or is he telling the world that being in the chief minister's chair gives him an immunity from criticism? Either way the issue once again has raised the unwelcome question whether the National Front is, indeed, the right party to govern Sabah. Dato' Yong cannot run away from that inescapable conclusion.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my