By Yusof J. Imbang
KOTA KINABALU—The wild narrative manufactured by the opposition aiming to agitate the people with nefarious intents, accusing the Sabah Chief Minister of approving a 70,000-hectare coal license, has been revealed to be nothing more than slander.
The Vice President of the Sabah People’s Idea Party (Gagasan Rakyat), Datuk Masiung Banah, emphasised that opposition leaders have shown their true colours as spreaders of false stories.
The Kuamut assemblyman said this when met at the party’s Youth, Women, and Young People’s General Conference at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here on Friday.
He said the people of Sabah deserve accurate information and correct facts, not the false narratives spread by the opposition.
“They used pro-rebel paid media to accuse the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, of approving the exploration project for Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd, a company owned by a former right-hand man of the Prime Minister.
“We see them becoming increasingly desperate to create slanderous issues ahead of the State Elections (PRN-17). They are only relying on audio recordings whose authenticity has not been proven.
“There is no document proving that Datuk Seri Hajiji was involved in any abuse of power regarding the project,” he emphasised.
Further elaborating, Masiung explained that the letter dated May 21, 2024, used by the opposition to attack Hajiji was merely a conditional initial proposal.
The letter is part of the documents leaked by the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd (SMM), who was dismissed.
“It is very clear that the exploration project reserve was cancelled through a letter signed by the new SMM CEO, Natasha Sim, on March 24, 2025,” he added.
According to Masiung, the official cancellation letter from SMM has revealed the truth about the opposition’s baseless slander, simultaneously exposing the opposition’s lies to the people of Sabah.
In fact, Masiung said that the SMM Board of Directors had rejected the exploration proposal involving 70,000 hectares of land.
Press statement: The Director of the Department of Lands and Surveys (JTU) and Chief Mining Inspector of Sabah, Datuk Bernard Liew Chan Min, has debunked the slander and lies of the opposition media.
Benard informed that no prospecting license was issued to Syarikat Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd, as claimed by the opposition in the media portal.
