KOTA KINABALU: Sejahtera Bumimas Sdn Bhd security manager Billy Koh has refuted a newspaper report that his personnel were ‘thugs’ who had threatened those using the facility.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Koh said he had lodged a police report against the allegation which said the 11 security personnel were ‘gangsters’ from a neighbouring state.
“Five of my personnel are Sabahans, so how can this allegation be true? My personnel are also in uniform and I have instructed them to always be courteous when on the job. They have been assigned batons but my personnel are not armed with weapons because I do not want people to get the wrong idea about them,” he said.
Koh also called on those who accused him and his personnel of threatening them to show proof.
“Where is the proof that they were threatened? What were the threatening words that we were alleged to have uttered?” he said and claimed that in fact it was the association who had threatened its members, not him or his security personnel.
“We know the fishermen need to make a living, and which is why we do not want to cause them any problems. I have in fact negotiated with them and got them to agree to pay a daily fee while they find ways to resolve the outstanding arrears with Sejahtera Bumimas Sdn Bhd,” he said.
Koh claimed that the association members had also threatened him and his personnel and when he brought the matter to the attention of Sejahtera Bumimas, they encouraged him to lodge a police report but he refused to do so.
This was because he did not want to cause any trouble to the fishermen, he stressed.
Koh added that he was hired by Sejahtera Bumimas to look after security at Sabah Fish Marketing Sdn Bhd (Safma) jetty and also to help the company collect outstanding jetty charges owed by fishermen, including members of the Kota Kinabalu Fishing Boat Owners Association (KKFBOA), to the company.
“I am now acting as a mediator to try and resolve this problem as we also sympathize with the fishermen who want the matter to be resolved as soon as possible so that things can go back to normal,” he said.
Koh disclosed that even though he was appointed to look after security at the jetty on November 11, he did not take immediate action as he wanted to know the real situation on the ground.
He said he met with KKFBOA members and other jetty users to discuss the problem and they agreed to pay the daily fees while they waited for a solution on how to resolve their outstanding arrears owed to Sejahtera Bumimas.
According to Kho, almost 100 per cent of the association members never made any payments to Sejahtera Bumimas since December 2013.
He also said Sejahtera Bumimas had recently presented its list of new jetty charges to KKFBOA but up to now had yet to receive a reply from the association as to whether it agreed or not to the charges.
“They should have the courtesy to reply … ceasing their operation is not the right way to resolve the problem. However, Sejahtera Bumimas Sdn Bhd is still open to discussion as the fishermen owe it hundreds of thousands of Ringgit in arrears,” he said, adding that they could consider paying in installments.