Chan Jeff
KOTA KINABALU: Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) Sabah Executive Secretary Chan Loong Wei on Tuesday revealed a memo that shows the decision to vacate the Wisma Kosan building dated 21st of July 2021.
“A memo issued by Kosan’s secretary on the 21st of July clearly stated that in a meeting chaired by Kosan chairman Ellron Angin has decided to enforce the eviction order for Wisma Kosan immediately,” he said.
Chan, who is also Luyang State Assemblyman Phoong Jin Zhe’s special assistant, rebutted former Likas candidate Jeff Lu on the Kosan land controversy.
“It is clear that Jeff Lu is politically motivated to try to link the land controversy with the DAP leadership.
“In fact, Phoong’s former political secretary, Henry Shim, has made a public statement to reiterate Phoong’s stance that he decided to let the annual general meeting to decide the best for the Kosan land.
“Apparently, Jeff is making irrelevant allegations on Phoong as during Phoong’s tenure between 21st of May 2020 to 26th of September 2020 as the Minister of Youth and Sports Sabah cum Kosan chairman has never issued nor enforced any eviction orders through any board meetings.
“It was never discussed or raised as an agenda in any meetings like what the board have did on the 21st of July’s meeting chaired by Ellron.
“Allegations made by Jeff are clearly baseless and inappropriate, is he trying to gain political mileage from this controversy?” he questioned.
Chan who is also a former Special Officer to the former Minister of Youth and Sports Sabah, shared that Phoong prioritised integrity.
“During Phoong’s tenure, he had always prioritised the values of democracy, transparency and accountability while governing.
“That is why Phoong called for an Emergency General Meeting on 18th February 2020 and proposed to call the 37th Annual General Meeting by the end of 2020.
“The latter was not materialised due to the Covid-19 outbreak and change of administration in Sabah,” he said.
Chan added Phoong would never need to call for a general meeting if he would like to vacate the building.
“It is contradictory to Jeff’s allegations as the EGM even overthrew the eviction order as majority Kosan members disagreed to proceed with the development plan.
“Phoong respected the decision made by all members as he did not enforce any evictions throughout his whole tenure,” he pointed out.
Chan also reiterated Phoong’s stance regarding the issue.
“It is unnecessary to politicise this issue, the joint venture agreement between Kosan and developer is legally binded.
“Phoong advised numerous times that the matter should be discussed and decided in Kosan’s AGM.
“If the Kosan members and Kosan board of directors cannot reach any consensus, perhaps the State’s Attorney-General shall intervene and provide professional legal advice on this controversy,” suggested Chan Jeff has called on the Kosan chairman and his predecessor to come clean over the controversy surrounding Wisma Kosan land.
As the current and former Kosan chairmen contradicted one another, they must be transparent and accountable to the public, he said.
“DAP’s Ginger Phoong Jin Zhe who was the former Kosan chairman, said no eviction order was ever issued during his time.
“But STAR’s Ellron Alfred Angin who is the current Kosan chairman said that there was an eviction order issued way back in March 2019.
“So which is which? Who is lying?” he said in a statement on Monday.
Jeff, a philanthropist, added the silence over the issue is puzzling.
“This is a controversy that involves close to 1,000 Kosan members throughout Sabah. That means this land controversy will affect the livelihoods of thousands of families.
“But how can the former Kosan chairman from DAP remains silent over the issue?” he asked.
He said DAP has four elected representatives in this controversy, yet none have spoken up.
“We call upon Ginger Phoong the former Kosan chairman, Frankie Poon, the former Kosan chairman, Chan Foong Hin the Kota Kinabalu member of parliament and Tan Lee Fatt, the Likas State Assemblyman to be accountable to the public.
“They must either rebut or clarify Ellron Angin’s accusation that the eviction order was issued during DAP’s tenure as the chairman of Kosan,” he said.