THE FMU DEBATE

By: DATUK THAM NYIP SHEN

THE sustainable forest management in Sabah implemented through a forest management unit, hence is better known as FMUs in the media, is a noble proposition. However, since its inception, it has been clouded with allegation after allegation.

The recent public debate, carried in most daily newspapers has implicated a series of Cabinet Ministers, both current as well as former.

My name was (unfortunately) included in the list, prompting many people to ask me what has been going on. This statement serves to clarify a few matters. Firstly, Cabinet meetings are complicated, involving a wide range of issues. Very often, a Minister is left to handle his or her ministerial work only.

Apart from many other activities and functions to attend, there are also meetings at national level, as well as conferences at international level. There would be little time to understand the details works of other Ministries.

The Forest Department is directly under the Chief Minister’s purview. When the FMU was conceived, most of us (Ministers) were discouraged to ‘enquire’.

I myself was ‘told off’ a few times. This made me even less keen on the subject. Yes, it was eventually brought to the Cabinet; armed with very little knowledge, no discussion can be meaningful.

The FMU agreement was signed at a pre organized ceremony immediately after that very Cabinet meeting that approved it. This made it pointless to revisit the subject thereafter, as the Chinese saying ‘The Rice Is Now Cooked’, or equivalent to crying over spilt milk.

A number of Cabinet Ministers were shocked and speechless. None of us said anything else from then on. Our only hope was that the Chief Minister of the day had made a good decision for Sabah, thereby all of us can live happily ever after. The recent debate by the two former Chief Ministers seems to have highlighted the issues otherwise (not happy anymore) and implied controversy.

Statements made had aroused more questions than answers provided. It was also implied that all those (Ministers) present then had a good share of the loot! To this notion I have to categorically say “NO!

I personally did not benefit from this. It must be said that the FMUs if implemented correctly, will be successful, hence I have supported the Cabinet paper. It now seems that there are other unknown matters beyond the Cabinet paper and Cabinet decision.

To this I declare that I have no knowledge and I am certainly not part of it. I thank the media for giving me a chance to clarify this matter.