Parti Warisan Sabah refuted Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Ramlee Marhaban’s claim that the party president, Datuk Seri Shafie Apda, had lied about the State’s budget.

According to Terrence Siambun, who is Warisan treasurer general, Shafie had made the remarks based on the confirmation by Tan Sri Ibrahim Menudin to him.

“Tan Sri Ibrahim was the former State’s Accountant General and obviously knows just how much the State Government had back in 1978. Is Ramlee now implying that he (Ibrahim) lied?

Perhaps Ramlee should seek the clarification on this matter from Ibrahim and other former Berjaya supremos instead of immediately saying that Shafie lied or attempted to mislead Sabahans.

“Does Ramlee really think Datuk Seri Shafie is that gullible enough to make baseless comment during an open function which will definitely be published in the media the day after?” he asked.

Siambun believed that it might be Ramlee who had instead given the inaccurate picture on the State’s financial health back in 1978.

“It has been clearly stated in Paul Raffaele’s book entitled ‘Harris Salleh of Sabah’ that Harris Salleh managed to turn the State’s economy within 1 and 1/2 years from $0.75 million in 1975 to $1,025 million ($1.025 billion) in 1976 and to $1,400 million ($1.4 billion) in 1977.

If Harris managed to raise a whopping $1.4 billion in only 1 and 1/2 years from $0.75 million, what more in 1978?

“This is so since we need to consider the massive investments  made by Harris Salleh as Chief Minister in that it had reaped immediate returns during the period of 1976 and 1977, particularly through the timber industry and the establishment of numerous State’s cooperatives in the likes of Korperasi Pembangunan Desa (KPD), Koperasi Serbaguna Nelayan Sabah (Ko-Nelayan), Korporasi Jelata Sabah Berhad (Kojasa), Korporasi Serbaguna Sanya Berhad (Kosan), Sabah Marketing Development Corporation (Sama) and Sabah Forest Development Authority (Safoda).

All these contributed to Sabah’s massive financial reserves so much so that the figure of RM4 billion in 1978 was not impossible at all as informed by Ibrahim.

“But most importantly, Ramlee disregarded the fact that Harris managed to achieve this outstanding record in mere 1 and 1/2 years (1976 – 1977) while Musa’s 13 years rule has really nothing to be proud of at all considering that Harris had already shown it to the Sabahans that it can be done in a very short time period,” he explained.

Siambun also slammed Ramlee for saying that Shafie’s insistence that Sabah could become as developed as Singapore is a joke.

“Ramlee in his capacity would probably not be able to comprehend nor understand what Datuk Seri Shafie had said and envisioned because he (Ramlee) probably has a limited mindset considering that Shafie is a London-trained economist, a former State civil servant as well as a former national cabinet minister.

His (Ramlee) main priority would always be to serve Umno leaders instead of Sabahans, hence the idea of creating a developed and high-income Sabah may well be alien to him.

“I would advise Ramlee to seek advice and clarification from Harris Salleh whether Sabah can become a highly developed State on par with Singapore or at least read the book ‘Harris Salleh of Sabah’ by Paul Raffaele and share his new found knowledge with Musa Aman,” he concluded. 

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by BORNEO POST

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