By S H LIM, Sabah Political Observer
Sabahans have become accustomed to political promises.
We have heard promises about roads.
Promises about water.
Promises about electricity.
Promises about jobs.
Promises about autonomy.
And now we should revisit one promise that has aged remarkably well without apparently becoming reality:
the proposed KDM institution of higher learning.
In 2012, there was a ground-breaking ceremony in Tambunan for the proposed KDM College.
A Prime Minister attended.
Political leaders stood proudly before the cameras.
Speeches were made.
Expectations were created.
The public was entitled to believe that construction was beginning.
Fourteen years later, the obvious question remains:
WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?
This is no longer merely a question about a college or university.
It is a test of political accountability.
WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE IN 2012?
Let us stop talking about this as though the project disappeared through an act of nature.
Governments do not hold ground-breaking ceremonies by accident.
Somebody proposed the project.
Somebody approved it.
Somebody identified the site.
Somebody announced it.
Somebody was supposed to implement it.
Somebody was responsible for ensuring that a ceremony became a building.
So who was responsible?
The Federal Government of the day must explain what was actually approved in 2012.
The Sabah Government of the day must explain what commitments it made.
The relevant ministries and agencies must explain what happened after the ceremony.
Was funding approved?
Was funding released?
Was land allocated?
Were tenders called?
Were contracts awarded?
Were consultants appointed?
Were architectural and development plans completed?
If nothing happened, why not?
If something happened, where is the record?
These questions should have been answered years ago.
THEN CAME 2017
By 2017, the promised institution had still not materialised as originally envisaged.
Political leaders themselves were asking where it had gone.
That should have triggered an official explanation.
Instead, Sabahans were apparently expected to move on.
That is precisely how political accountability disappears in Sabah.
A promise is announced loudly.
Its failure disappears quietly.
Five years later, another politician complains about it.
Then everybody forgets.
Until the same idea is announced again under another name.
FROM COLLEGE TO UNIVERSITY — BUT STILL NO CAMPUS
Then came 2023.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim spoke during Kaamatan about waiting for the proposal or working paper for a KDM University.
This raises an almost unbelievable question.
How did Sabah travel from a ground-breaking ceremony in 2012 back to a working paper in 2023?
Normally, a development project moves like this:
Proposal.
Approval.
Funding.
Construction.
Completion.
Opening.
In Sabah, this particular project appears to have achieved something extraordinary:
Ground-breaking ceremony → eleven years → proposal paper.
That is development in reverse.
One might laugh if the subject were not so serious.
SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS CANNOT ALL ESCAPE RESPONSIBILITY
This matter should not become another childish exercise of politicians blaming only the government before them.
Different governments have governed Sabah and Malaysia since 2012.
Therefore, accountability must extend across administrations.
The government that announced the project must explain what it promised.
The governments that followed must explain why they did not complete it, revive it properly or formally terminate it.
And the government now talking about KDM University must explain whether it is genuinely creating an institution or merely reviving an old political aspiration with a new label.
Every administration that inherited the matter had a responsibility to ask:
Where is the project?
Silence is also a political decision.
SHOW US THE FILE
There is one simple way to end speculation.
Open the file.
Publish the chronology.
Sabahans should be told:
When was the original proposal submitted?
When was it approved?
What land was identified?
How much money was promised?
How much money was actually allocated?
How much, if any, was spent?
Which agency was the implementing body?
What milestones were established?
Why were those milestones not achieved?
Was the original project formally abandoned?
If it was abandoned, who decided that?
And if KDM University is a completely new proposal, what happened to the institution promised in 2012?
These are questions of public administration, not partisan politics.
FOURTEEN YEARS IS AN ENTIRE GENERATION
Perhaps politicians have forgotten how long fourteen years actually is.
A four-year-old child watching that ground-breaking ceremony in 2012 would now be around eighteen.
He or she could be applying to university today.
Yet the institution whose ground was supposedly being broken when that child was four apparently remains unfinished, unrealised or reinvented.
Think about that.
The children grew up faster than the university.
That should be the headline of this entire episode.
SABAH’S REAL PROBLEM IS NOT A SHORTAGE OF ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sabah does not suffer from a shortage of announcements.
We have announcements in abundance.
We have launches.
We have master plans.
We have memoranda.
We have feasibility studies.
We have committees.
We have task forces.
We have ground-breaking ceremonies.
What Sabah often lacks is the boring part:
completion.
That is where governance is measured.
Anybody can make an announcement.
Anybody can hold a shovel.
Anybody can cut a ribbon.
Anybody can stand before a giant architectural rendering showing a beautiful campus.
Leadership begins the morning after the photographers leave.
BEFORE ANOTHER POLITICIAN PICKS UP A SHOVEL
If the proposed KDM University is now genuinely moving forward, excellent.
But before another grand ceremony is organised, answer some basic questions.
Where is the campus?
Has the land been secured?
What is the approved budget?
What is the funding structure?
What approvals have been obtained from the Ministry of Higher Education?
What institution will own and operate it?
What programmes will it offer?
What is the construction schedule?
What is the completion date?
And above all:
IN WHICH YEAR WILL THE FIRST STUDENT ACTUALLY ENROL?
Put that date in writing.
Then Sabahans will know whether they are looking at a university project or another political announcement.
STOP RECYCLING PROMISES
Sabahans should become much less impressed by ceremonies.
We should ask for documentation.
When somebody announces RM500 million, ask where the allocation is.
When somebody promises a university, ask for the approval.
When somebody launches a project, ask for the completion date.
When somebody conducts a ground-breaking ceremony, come back one year later and photograph the same location.
That is how accountability begins.
Perhaps Sabah needs a new rule:
No politician should be allowed to conduct a second ground-breaking ceremony until the project from his first ceremony is completed.
That might suddenly improve our completion rate.
THE QUESTION FOR 2026
So the question today is not simply:
“When will KDM University be built?”
The first question must be:
“What happened to what was promised in 2012?”
Until that question is answered, every new announcement carries the shadow of the old one.
Sabahans should demand the documentary record from every relevant administration and agency.
Not excuses.
Not slogans.
Not another committee.
Not another artist’s impression.
And preferably, not another photograph of politicians holding shovels.
After fourteen years, we have seen enough ceremonial ground being broken.
IT IS TIME TO BUILD SOMETHING ON IT.
Otherwise, KDM University may eventually achieve a remarkable distinction:
Sabah’s first university whose political history is longer than its academic history.
And that would be funny
if Sabah’s young people were not the ones paying the price.
