KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Pantai Manis chief Datuk Johnny Mositun is perplexed with KDM Malaysia president Datuk Peter Anthony’s claim of illegal logging in Ulu Kimanis.
Mositun said he knew for a fact that there was no logging in Ulu Kimanis because he grew up there.
“Since Peter Anthony had asked me to comment on the so-called illegal logging, I have done some research and I found that there was some land clearing done, not in Ulu Kimanis but in Kampung Ulu Sawatan, which is bordering Ulu Kimanis.
“This means that Peter Anthony does not even know where the area is,” he said in a statement here responding to Anthony’s statement on September 14, which said Mositun should not make an issue of the prizes for the competition during the Jom Masuk U Carnival organised by the Higher Learning Ministry in Kudat recently.
“Matters like (these) should not be blown out of proportions. He (Mositun) should raise other issues like illegal immigrants and also the land encroachment to steal timber in his area in Ulu Kimanis,” said Anthony.
Nonetheless, Mositun said his investigations showed that there was no illegal logging also in Kampung Ulu Sawatan because there was an agreement between the land applicants and the head applicants to authorise the clearing of land before title was issued and surrendered to them.
A contractor was appointed to clear the land and the timber on it in lieu of payment for the surveying fees among others.
“Once the land is cleared only then the land title is issued and handed over to the applicants. So there is no illegal logging because all the necessary documentations have been done properly,” he said.
However, Mositun was made to understand that it was when Anthony’s younger brother had bought a piece of land from one of the applicants that he started to complain about illegal logging.
On the illegal immigrant issue, Mositun said he together with his PBS counterparts had been vocal about the matter even before Anthony became the leader of the so-called NGO, KDM Malaysia.
“We have been voicing out the matter for so many years until the federal government agreed to set up the Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrant in Sabah,” he said.
As for the call for a debate, Mositun said there was nothing to debate because he stands by his statements that he had made about KDM Malaysia from day one.
“By calling for a debate, it beckons upon all whether KDM Malaysia is an NGO or a political organisation,” he said.
Mositun also questioned the wisdom of the writer of a Sunday Forum letter on September 16, entitled “At least KDM M’sia gives more than zinc sheets” going by the name C.P. Kui.
“Everyone knows that you cannot build a government building on a private land. The land that the writer is talking about has already been surrendered to the government.
“The rental charged for use of the hall is for expenses such as electricity and salary of the workers. This is the same for every hall,” he said.
“The writer is hiding like a ghost just like his name C.P Kui, which in Chinese means ghost, to make unfounded allegations in support of KDM Malaysia,” he said.
He said PBS could only afford to give zinc sheets to the people also insinuated that other BN component parties like Umno, Upko, LDP among others were the same.
“The fact is assistance not just in terms of zinc sheets but others are being given to all the needy throughout Sabah and not just a selected few,” he said.
Mositun said only time would tell until when KDM Malaysia could go on the “spending spree”.
“I also hope your (Anthony) case with Datuk John Ambrose will be resolved,” he said.