Jimmy gets invite to ride chopper
by Nancy Lai. Posted on December 14, 2011, Wednesday
KOTA KINABALU: Assistant Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Pang Nyuk Ming has accepted Sabah DAP chief Jimmy Wong’s challenge to prove the latter wrong on his allegations about the purchase of the Sabah Air helicopters.
Pang during a press conference with Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Yusoff Mohd Kassim and the company’s CEO Manu Sasidharan yesterday issued an official invitation to Jimmy for a ride in the Eurocopter AS 355 NP next week.
“I officially invite Sri Tanjung assemblyman Jimmy Wong to ride in the chopper and I will have a Christmas present for him when he comes back from the flight,” the former Sabah Air chairman said in response to Jimmy’s challenge.
Jimmy told reporters on Sunday that he would resign as an elected representative if the state government could prove that his allegations on the purchase of the Sabah Air helicopters were wrong.
“But if I am right, then the State Cabinet should resign,” Jimmy said, adding that he stood by his statement describing the two helicopters purchased by the state government as scrap metal that had never been used.
Jimmy when countering Pang’s criticism to his allegations disclosed that one unit of Eurocopter AS 355 NP was purchased at a price of RM13 million and one unit of Eurocopter EC 145 at a price of RM21 million from Eurocopter Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
He also was of the opinion that the purchase of the two new helicopters was a waste of the people’s money as Sabah Air’s current fleet of eight units of Bell 206 helicopters were not fully utilized.
The money used to purchase the helicopters should have been put to better use such as building roads, improving the water and electricity supply as well as constructing infrastructure for the people in the state, he opined.
He also claimed that since delivery, both helicopters had not generated any revenue flying hours for Sabah Air adding that the AS 355 NP was delivered to Sabah Air in Dec 2010 and EC 145 in Jan 2011.
“In Oct 2011 the EC 145 was leased to Eurocopter for demonstration flights and static display in West Malaysia for RM 1 only. The One Ringgit Malaysia lease agreement between Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd and Eurocopter Malaysia Sdn Bhd was signed by CEO and Director of Operation on Sept 30,” he alleged.
“As Sabahans have yet to see any of these helicopters, I challenge the state government to give the rakyat a good Christmas present by putting the two machines on display. The government should also consider operating charity flights on the helicopters for children on that day.
“I also want the Sabah Chief Minister and his three deputies as well as assistant Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Pang Nyuk Ming to accompany the children on the charity flights and if you want me to be there, I will,” he said.
Pang also refuted Jimmy’s allegation that Sabah Air had made a loss in 2010.
“I was the chairman then and I can tell you now that Sabah Air made RM1.6 million net profit. I do not know what he meant by not making profit,” he added.
Explaining about the EMS service, Pang used the 101010 bus accident tragedy in Peninsular Malaysia as an example on how important swift emergency service was in saving lives.
One of the contributing factors to the number of fatalities in the accident was that the EMS could not get to the victims on time, he said.
“In Sabah we realize that we lack this facility because in rescue service, the first hour is very critical as it could mean the difference between life and death. Imagine this scenario, an expectant mother in Keningau has complications, how can she endure the two-hour ambulance ride?
“Wouldn’t it be better if she was airlifted to the nearest medical facility for emergency treatment? It was because if this reason that I personally went to see the Health Minister about three years ago to explain about the EMS and the need for it.
“Sabah Air realized this three years ago, which is why we have been pushing for this and that is why we bought this equipment, not just because we want to buy it. Now if we can convince the federal government to give this budget which they have now allocated, I don’t see who loses here,” he stressed.
Pang added that he was emotional about the issue because Sabah Air has very good people who had worked passionately for the past three years to create awareness about EMS in this country.
“We have someone who come in and say we bought this useless thing…this is a very irresponsible thing for a YB to do,” he said.
Meanwhile Manu pointed out that Sabah Air has business in countries like Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Singapore, among others.
It was also the first choice of the United Nation for its Aceh rehabilitation program after the tsunami disaster struck the island.
“Sabah Air was the first choice and spent the longest time there,” he said adding that UN picked up contractors who they were confident to do the jobs.
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