The Sarawak governor’s office has reiterated that the MACC has exonerated Abdul Taib Mahmud from any wrongdoing, in the wake of the latter being linked by an environmental activist group to an allegedly illegal land-clearing operation just outside Mulu National Park.
Taib’s press secretary Jameson Ahip Nawie pointed to a July 3, 2018 press conference held by MACC chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull in relation to 15 separate investigations opened into the Sarawak governor.
The top graftbuster had said there was no case against Taib, due to lack of evidence regarding his involvement in the decision-making process.
In a statement to Malaysiakini today, Jameson said the position of the Sarawak governor “is an apolitical appointment, which should be above politics or public debate”.
“The current Governor of Sarawak, His Excellency Abdul Taib Mahmud was first appointed on March 1, 2014 for a four-year term. His term was renewed for another four-year term in February 2018.
“It is unethical, to say the least, that Abdul Taib is still being linked to the so-called dubious projects in Sarawak.
If Governor Taib Mahmud seeks to offer lessons in ethics he should start by providing full transparency on the myriad concessions and contracts issued during his period of office, nearly all of which ended up in the hands of his own family, proxies and crony companies.
His aid complains that as Governor he is above all decisions, so cannot be blamed for what has happened regarding the on-going Mulu land scandal. However, the fact is that at the time the various concessions were handed out and native rights were railroaded Taib was chief minister, finance minister, planning and development minister, chair of the Land Custody and Development Authority and in charge of the Land & Survey Department.
The concessions and special conditions were given to his son (for free) and the railroading was done by his son’s company before the shares were passed to a third party which immediately commenced bulldozing.
If Taib seeks to contest those facts, fair enough. However, if he does not the ethical failures lie in what happened not in the public interest reporting of this scandal.