KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Tham Nyip Shen has accused Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee and his henchmen of resorting to ‘character assassination’ in a bid to tarnish his image and to finish him off politically.
Tham however said he was confident that Yong and other SAPP leaders would not succeed since they were only spreading lies and he (Tham) was no longer involved in any political party.
Responding to recent allegations hurled at him by Yong and other SAPP leaders, the former SAPP stalwart said Yong was not only a desperado but also vengeful as Yong reckoned that Tham was to blame for Yong’s debacle in Batu Sapi.
Tham also said that Yong and SAPP were churning out allegations but conveniently side-stepping issues that he had raised so as to confuse the public.
Tham said the main issue now was that he had been reliably told on many occasions that there were people who had received large sums of money after promising FMU (Forest Management Unit) deals to some people in Sandakan.
“I was shocked when told by some Sandakan businessmen that despite payments having been made in promise of an FMU approval, they got nothing in the end. These people are my friends and I was forced to clarify that I had nothing to do with the FMUs,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Tham said Yong should be the one to clarify the matter.
“But Yong and his henchmen have nothing better to say than to vent their anger at me. They have conveniently forgotten that they had stirred up the hornet’s nest when they mentioned me in the FMU controversy,” said Tham.
“Even then when I first issued a statement on Oct 12, without mentioning any names, I had clarified that I was not part of the (FMU) controversy!
“I had also said that the FMUs if implemented correctly will be successful. I had also stated that as ministers in the Cabinet at that time, we were discouraged from asking about the FMU issue at that time.”
“What I also cannot understand is that out of 10 FMUs approved by Yong, only one went to Sabah Foundation and the others to mostly non-Sabahan companies. And of these at least five have failed,” he explained.
Tham said he assisted an association comprising of more than 50 furniture factory owners, in and around the KKIP area, to apply for an FMU under KKIP Forest Sdn Bhd, since they were worried about getting insufficient supply of timber and at competitive prices for their furniture factories once the forest was operated by private companies.
He added he did approach the federal ministries for assistance because he believed that if properly managed, the FMUs were viable, and that his briefing by the Forestry Department showed that he wanted a clearer picture of the situation before lending his support.
“Sabah furniture manufacturers would surely deserve an FMU rather than a company (from outside Sabah) whose officials cannot differentiate the forest from the wood,” charged Tham.
“My efforts merely showed my consistency in supporting a good policy. As to whether I had benefited personally – I hope Yong and his henchmen can provide the public with the evidence,” he added.
Tham said it was more hilarious than anything else that Yong had claimed that he (Tham) wanted an FMU concession for himself, describing the allegation as an indication “how low Yong would stoop to malign his once political comrade.”
“No one, but Yong himself, had the opportunity to scrutinise the backgrounds of the companies that were awarded the FMU concessions,” he asserted.