Sedia not a 'vacuum cleaner' assurance sought
Joe FernandezPublished: Jan 16, 2009 2:56 PM | Updated: Jan 16, 2009 5:03 PM
The Sedia (Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority) Bill, which puts the bureaucratic structures in place for the long-awaited promises of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), had a fairly easy passage with amendments in the state legislative assembly yesterday.
The Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority Bill had an easy passage with amendments in the state legislative assembly.
The Sedia (Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority) Bill, which puts the bureaucratic structures in place for the long-awaited promises of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), had a fairly easy passage with amendments in the state legislative assembly yesterday.
The debate over the Bill was not without its moments of high drama as the tiny opposition of three made it clear that they were not willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the newly-proposed authority.
Concerns remain over the opportunities that may present itself for the commission of corrupt practices, the overlapping of functions and duplication with existing government ministries and departments, the SDC encompassing the whole state and not confining itself to a specific area as with the other economic corridors proposed elsewhere in the country and the role of the federal government in meeting funding commitments, among others.
Sri Tanjung (DAP) state assemblyperson Jimmy Wong brought the roof down when he used the term "vacuum cleaner" in his comments on the Bill and queried whether the small and exclusive membership of Sedia was “to ensure and increase the horsepower of the vacuum cleaner”.
“If you analyse the decision-making process in Sedia, it will be transferred from a committee of seven to four and finally to one man who can decide the economic future of the whole of Sabah,” pointed out Wong who nevertheless conceded that the Bill “had noble intentions”.
“If he (the one man or chief minister) is a good man, then maybe we won’t suffer so much but if he is a vacuum cleaner ... you can imagine the consequences. How is this possible?”
'Such talk is all over the place'
Challenged by Deputy Chief Minister Yahya Hussein for a clarification, Wong said he picked up the term in coffee shops, referring to the intense debate in the street over the economic direction of Sabah in times good and bad.
“It is heard everywhere. Such talk is all over the place. I don’t want to respond further, nanti malu (embarrassing),” said Wong, who added when pressed further by Yahya Hussein: “Maybe corruption, anything, those (vacuum cleaner) who suck in everything.”
Melanie Chia (Sapp-Luyang) pointed out that seven of Sedia’s nine functions listed under Clause 7 of the Bill are already being carried out by the various ministries, departments and local authorities.
Liew Teck Chan (Sapp-Likas) queried why Clause 5 (4) until (g) of the Sedia Bill gave a leading role to the authority in contradiction to Clause 7 (a) until (i) which states that Sedia only had functions as a co-ordinating and monitoring body.
In that case, Liew added, “The assurances under Clause 3 (1) and (2) would no longer be relevant”.
Setting the Bill in perspective for the state and federal governments, Chief Minister Musa Aman informed the House that the Sedia Bill was necessary in compliance with the requirements of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department.
“Sedia is needed to plan, co-ordinate and monitor SDC projects under the development expenditure and to receive funds for SDC from the federal government as well as get the co-operation and approval from the state government and state agencies to implement the SDC projects,” said Musa in tabling the Bill.
“Without the SDC structure and mechanism to channel funds, there would be no means of getting the money.”
Budget-wise, he gave an assurance that Sedia would not drain government funds, “as it would only involve an annual operational expenditure of RM1.8 million to RM2.5 million.”
“If there is hanky panky, action can still be taken,” said Musa dispelling fears that Sedia would be immune from prosecution or provide opportunities to feather one’s own nest, while Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan echoed that “immunity would only be given if the job is done in good faith”.
Members of the House had claimed that there were weaknesses in Section 25 of the Bill “as it stated that those involved in Sedia are given absolute immunity against any prosecution or suits”.
Further, it was contended that Section 8 (2) of the Bill even contradicted the Evidence Act 1950 in that all minutes of meetings can be admissible without having to prove it in a court of law.
The SDC is to be implemented over 18 years covering the period from the mid-term review (2008-2010) of the 9th Malaysia Plan to the 12th Malaysia Plan years (2021-2025).
The state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to rise four-fold from RM16 billion in 2006 to RM63.2 billion by the year 2025, under the SDC, and the state’s GDP per capita is expected to triple from RM5,331 to RM14,748 over the same period.
'Erode powers of state gov't'
So far, the SDC has managed to attract 14 foreign and local investments worth RM15.5 billion with several Memorandum of Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding sealed, according to the state government, "and 12 of these projects are now underway."
However, the current financial tsunami and economic crisis sweeping the world further casts a pallor over the Sedia Bill in the kind of commitments that may be forthcoming from the federal government in particular. The federal government has approved an additional allocation of RM 2.376 billion for 55 SDC main development projects and programmes throughout Sabah, according to public announcements.
However, the state government was expected to receive only RM10 million by last month “to facilitate initial works for these projects”.
It was noted that Kuala Lumpur does not live up to its funding promises even at the best of times.
Already, it has been pointed out, that “not even a sen of a special RM1 billion allocation for Sabah which was pledged in May last year by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been received”.
The special allocation was to make up for the state’s under-representation in the federal cabinet and the federal government despite saving the day for BN, along with neighbouring Sarawak, after the political tsunami of March 8, 2008.
At the same time, there are concerns that the federal government’s role in Sedia and the SDC would further compromise what little remains of the state’s autonomy under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“Our concern is whether Sedia might erode the power of the state government and its agencies including local government, and hand over land and town planning authority to the federal government,” worries Sapp president Yong Teck Lee who pulled his party out of BN last Sept 17, in the wake of the political tsunami, after expressing no confidence in the federal leadership.
The debate over the Bill was not without its moments of high drama as the tiny opposition of three made it clear that they were not willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the newly-proposed authority.
Concerns remain over the opportunities that may present itself for the commission of corrupt practices, the overlapping of functions and duplication with existing government ministries and departments, the SDC encompassing the whole state and not confining itself to a specific area as with the other economic corridors proposed elsewhere in the country and the role of the federal government in meeting funding commitments, among others.
Sri Tanjung (DAP) state assemblyperson Jimmy Wong brought the roof down when he used the term "vacuum cleaner" in his comments on the Bill and queried whether the small and exclusive membership of Sedia was “to ensure and increase the horsepower of the vacuum cleaner”.
“If you analyse the decision-making process in Sedia, it will be transferred from a committee of seven to four and finally to one man who can decide the economic future of the whole of Sabah,” pointed out Wong who nevertheless conceded that the Bill “had noble intentions”.
“If he (the one man or chief minister) is a good man, then maybe we won’t suffer so much but if he is a vacuum cleaner ... you can imagine the consequences. How is this possible?”
'Such talk is all over the place'
Challenged by Deputy Chief Minister Yahya Hussein for a clarification, Wong said he picked up the term in coffee shops, referring to the intense debate in the street over the economic direction of Sabah in times good and bad.
“It is heard everywhere. Such talk is all over the place. I don’t want to respond further, nanti malu (embarrassing),” said Wong, who added when pressed further by Yahya Hussein: “Maybe corruption, anything, those (vacuum cleaner) who suck in everything.”
Melanie Chia (Sapp-Luyang) pointed out that seven of Sedia’s nine functions listed under Clause 7 of the Bill are already being carried out by the various ministries, departments and local authorities.
Liew Teck Chan (Sapp-Likas) queried why Clause 5 (4) until (g) of the Sedia Bill gave a leading role to the authority in contradiction to Clause 7 (a) until (i) which states that Sedia only had functions as a co-ordinating and monitoring body.
In that case, Liew added, “The assurances under Clause 3 (1) and (2) would no longer be relevant”.
Setting the Bill in perspective for the state and federal governments, Chief Minister Musa Aman informed the House that the Sedia Bill was necessary in compliance with the requirements of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department.“Sedia is needed to plan, co-ordinate and monitor SDC projects under the development expenditure and to receive funds for SDC from the federal government as well as get the co-operation and approval from the state government and state agencies to implement the SDC projects,” said Musa in tabling the Bill.
“Without the SDC structure and mechanism to channel funds, there would be no means of getting the money.”
Budget-wise, he gave an assurance that Sedia would not drain government funds, “as it would only involve an annual operational expenditure of RM1.8 million to RM2.5 million.”
“If there is hanky panky, action can still be taken,” said Musa dispelling fears that Sedia would be immune from prosecution or provide opportunities to feather one’s own nest, while Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan echoed that “immunity would only be given if the job is done in good faith”.
Members of the House had claimed that there were weaknesses in Section 25 of the Bill “as it stated that those involved in Sedia are given absolute immunity against any prosecution or suits”.
Further, it was contended that Section 8 (2) of the Bill even contradicted the Evidence Act 1950 in that all minutes of meetings can be admissible without having to prove it in a court of law.
The SDC is to be implemented over 18 years covering the period from the mid-term review (2008-2010) of the 9th Malaysia Plan to the 12th Malaysia Plan years (2021-2025).
The state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to rise four-fold from RM16 billion in 2006 to RM63.2 billion by the year 2025, under the SDC, and the state’s GDP per capita is expected to triple from RM5,331 to RM14,748 over the same period.
'Erode powers of state gov't'
So far, the SDC has managed to attract 14 foreign and local investments worth RM15.5 billion with several Memorandum of Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding sealed, according to the state government, "and 12 of these projects are now underway."
However, the current financial tsunami and economic crisis sweeping the world further casts a pallor over the Sedia Bill in the kind of commitments that may be forthcoming from the federal government in particular. The federal government has approved an additional allocation of RM 2.376 billion for 55 SDC main development projects and programmes throughout Sabah, according to public announcements.
However, the state government was expected to receive only RM10 million by last month “to facilitate initial works for these projects”.
It was noted that Kuala Lumpur does not live up to its funding promises even at the best of times.
Already, it has been pointed out, that “not even a sen of a special RM1 billion allocation for Sabah which was pledged in May last year by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been received”.
The special allocation was to make up for the state’s under-representation in the federal cabinet and the federal government despite saving the day for BN, along with neighbouring Sarawak, after the political tsunami of March 8, 2008.
At the same time, there are concerns that the federal government’s role in Sedia and the SDC would further compromise what little remains of the state’s autonomy under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“Our concern is whether Sedia might erode the power of the state government and its agencies including local government, and hand over land and town planning authority to the federal government,” worries Sapp president Yong Teck Lee who pulled his party out of BN last Sept 17, in the wake of the political tsunami, after expressing no confidence in the federal leadership.
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