KOTA KINABALU (April 24): Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s working visit to China resulted in the signing of 12 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) worth close to RM20 billion, involving local companies and Chinese investors in the industrial sector.

Speaking to reporters upon his return from China today, Mohd Shafie said the State Government, via the Industrial Development Ministry, would be fine-tuning the MoUs to ensure that the agreements come to fruition.

The MoUs include a joint-venture agreement between Jesselton Birost (Sabah) Sdn Bhd and Zhejiang Zhou Shan Run Energy Co Ltd to construct and manage the integrated refinery and oil storage terminal in the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park, which is expected to cost around RM16.5 billion.

Mohd Shafie said the five-day working trip to the Jiangxi province and Shenzhen provided an opportunity to explore the developments in the two industrial areas as well as to establish cooperation to attract Chinese investors to Sabah.

“This will not only strengthen the State’s finances through inflow of investments but also create jobs for the people,” he said.

The Chief Minister was accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Shuryani Shuaib, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau who is also Sabah Trade and Industry Minister, as well as 32 businessmen representing various industries in Sabah.

During his visit, Mohd Shafie paid a courtesy call on the Governor of Jiangxi, Yi Lianhong, and visited the Jiangxi Copper Corporation’s headquarters.

He had also visited the Xinyi Glass Holdings Ltd’s factory, where the company had agreed to invest in a glass manufacturing factory in Sabah.   

Mohd Shafie also delivered a keynote address on trade and investment opportunities in Sabah, jointly organised by the Sabah Trade and Industry Ministry and the Shenzhen Trade Bureau.

He said many Chinese investors, especially those from Jiangxi and Shenzhen, were interested to invest in Sabah due to its strategic location.

Mohd Shafie had also visited Huawei’s headquarters and factory in Shenzhen, together with University Malaysia Sabah’s chairman of the board of directors Datuk K Y Mustafa and deputy chancellor Professor Datuk Dr. D Kamarudin D Mudin.

During the visit, UMS took the opportunity to establish cooperative ties for the placement of students and lecturers at Huawei’s factory.

Source: The Edge Markets

KOTA KINABALU: Although Sabah is rich in natural resources, 50 percent of the country’s poorest people are found in the state.

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun finds this ironic and states that there were no reason why the people of Sabah should be poor since that state is endowed with natural resources such as oil, gas, timber and fertile soil.

Continue reading “50% of country’s poor are from Sabah – IDS chairman” →

Sabah Kita terhutang budi kepada Datuk John Lo kerana telah menekankan isu pengambilalihan SFI di dalam arus perdana media. Dalam ruang Inside Out terkini beliau, Datuk John Lo dengan berani membincangkan kontroversi yang berputar di sekitar pengambilalihan Sabah Forest Industries (SFI). Izinkan kami memberi respons dalam beberapa konteks.

Datuk Lo telah menyebut tentang Grant Thornton Malaysia, penerima/pengurus yang dilantik untuk SFI, yang terikat dengan satu set etika profesional untuk mendapatkan tawaran terbaik untuk para pemegang saham utama SFI yang kini dimiliki Ballarpur (98 peratus) dan kerajaan Sabah (2 peratus).

Continue reading “Respons Sabah Kita terhadap artikel Datuk John dalam Daily Express mengenai pengambilalihan SFI” →

Sabah Kita is indebted to Datuk John Lo for bringing the issue of SFI’s takeover into the mainstream media. In his latest Inside Out column, Datuk John Lo bravely took on the controversy swirling around the takeover of Sabah Forest Industries (SFI). Allow us to kindly respond with some context.

Datuk Lo mentioned Grant Thornton Malaysia, the appointed receiver/manager for SFI, was bound by a set of professional ethics to get the best possible deal for SFI’s principal shareholders which are currently Ballarpur (98 percent) and the Sabah government (2 percent).

Continue reading “Sabah Kita’s response to Datuk John Lo’s article in Daily Express on SFI takeover” →

SIPITANG: The State Government will find ways on how it can increase its shares in the Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) Sdn Bhd.

Disclosing this here yesterday, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal said, as it stands the state only holds two per cent of the total shares in SFI.

“For now, we will determine the direction that we should take to ensure that we can enhance our participation (in SFI) at the state level,” he said, who is also the Finance Minister.

Continue reading “Sabah to find ways to increase its shares in SFI – CM” →

Pada bulan Mei tahun lalu, rakyat Sabah telah mengundi untuk perubahan kerana WARISAN berjanji untuk menjaga kesejahteraan rakyat Sabah dengan lebih baik. Walau bagaimanapun, pada masa ini mereka seolah-olah telah mengkhianati mandat tersebut.

Baru-baru ini telah diketahui bahawa kerajaan yang dipimpin oleh Shafie memihak kepada syarikat pulpa dan kertas dari China iaitu Lee & Man Paper untuk pengambilalihan Sabah Forest Industries (SFI). Ini adalah bertentangan dengan apa yang telah dipersetujui sebelumnya oleh kerajaan yang dipimpin oleh Musa, bahawa syarikat dari Malaysia iaitu Pelangi Prestasi akan mengambil alih SFI.

Continue reading “Para pemimpin Sabah, jangan jual negeri kita kepada kerajaan China!” →

The new WARISAN government’s decision to not honour the Sabah state government’s previous commitment to sell Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) to a credible local investor is a clear indication that the new leaders don’t have the best interests of Sabahans at heart.

SFI is one of Malaysia’s largest timber producers, and is also involved in downstream pulp and paper manufacturing. SFI, which was acquired by an Indian company, Ballarpur in 2007 is in a bad state and in need of a comprehensive structural overhaul. The Malaysian company was selected as the purchaser after a tender, having gotten the nod of approval from the previous Sabah government prior to the 14th general elections in May 2018.

Continue reading “New Government, Same Old Nonsense” →

In May last year, Sabahans voted for change because WARISAN promised to take better care of the welfare of Sabahans. However, now they seem to be betraying that mandate.

It has recently surfaced that the Shafie government is favouring Chinese pulp and paper company Lee & Man Paper for the takeover of Sabah Forest Industries (SFI). This goes against what had been previously agreed by the Musa government, that Malaysian company Pelangi Prestasi would take over SFI.

Continue reading “Leaders of Sabah, don’t sell our state to China!” →

Pemberian kawasan-kawasan hutan kepada para pemimpin politik adalah rahsia terbuka di Sabah. Dulu, setiap wakil rakyat atau pemimpin pasti mendapat sekurang-kurangnya 500 ekar balak. Ketua Menteri sebelum yang sekarang memutuskan pada tahun 2006 untuk tidak memberi lesen pembalakan baru untuk memelihara khazanah negeri. Menerusi keputusan itu, maka Sabah mentargetkan menjelang tahun 2025, sekurang-kurang 30 peratus daripada “land mass” Sabah diliputi hutan atau protected area.

Akibat tindakan Ketua Menteri Sabah ke-14 memansuhkan sebarang pemberian kawasan balak, maka kawasan hutan simpan Sabah telah melonjak kepada 1.8juta hektar pada tahun 2017, dan lonjakan itu merupakan 115 peratus berbanding hutan kekal Sabah tahun 2002. Sebagai rekod hutan kekal Sabah, pada tahun 2002 adalah 838,132 hektar, selepas 10 tahun, hutan kekal Sabah pada tahun 2013 adalah 1,350,574 hektar, dan pada tahun 2017 hutan kekal Sabah mencapai 1.8juta hektar, dan pada tahun 2025, ditargetkan 30 peratus land mass Sabah diselimuti hutan kekal.

Continue reading “Kami, Bukan Politikus Dan Kroni Pemimpin, Berupaya Memartabatkan Sabah” →

*article update with the latest info

The sale of SFI to Malaysian owned Pelangi Prestasi will see the ailing timber company revitalized and supporting a state of the art bio-hub in Sabah– the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. A bio-hub utilises bioresources and biomass including wood, oil palm waste and other kinds of waste feedstock for various purposes, like the production of biodegradable products, such as bioplastic as well as generation of electricity and heat. SFI’s current focus is on a traditional timber harvesting and pulp producing model.

But under Pelangi Prestasi, SFI would take a diversified and integrated approach focusing on transforming its current industrial site in Sipitang to a bio-product mill. Apart from pulp production, it would generate excess green energy and other waste streams that supports the setup of other bio-refineries next to it.

Continue reading “Takeover of SFI promises more and better jobs for Sabahans but Grant Thornton Malaysia disrupts it” →