From Idris Mokhtar
Over the past week, Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd (SMM), the state-owned entity tasked with streamlining governance of its mineral sector, has found itself the victim of some questionable reporting.
A news portal claimed that SMM had awarded a mineral prospecting licence to a company known as Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd, which it said was linked to a businessman with high-end connections.
It also claimed that the licence had been issued in respect of a ginormous plot of land measuring 70,000 hectares.
A video pushed out on social media incorporated what appeared to be fly-on-the-wall audio snippets of proceedings at the board meeting which approved the licence. Some dramatic background music gave the video a real sense of foreboding.
But for one problem. SMM is not the licence issuing authority and does not issue such licences. That authority is given by the Sabah Mining Ordinance 1960 to the state’s lands and survey departments (JTU).
SMM merely acts as a sieve and issues conditional letters granting potential applicants permission to apply to JTU for mining licences.
True enough, on Thursday, JTU confirmed that no licence was issued to Bumi Suria. The following day, SMM said even its initial approval was subsequently revoked.
Both were matters which would have come to the reporters’ attention had they made the proper inquiries before running their stories. Only they can explain why they didn’t.
As it turns out, the audio leak of the board meeting, which appears to feature the voice of chief minister Hajiji Noor, who by virtue of his position is SMM chairman, appeared simply to be discussing whether the company qualified for conditional approval.
Only those at the meeting can confirm whether it was Hajiji who spoke and whether the audio clip represents the totality of what he said in its proper context.
In the clip, “Hajiji” appeared to be summarising the merits of the Bumi Suria’s pitch for a licence, which largely rested on its Indonesian partner’s proven track record in the field.
When one participant argued that the land applied for was too large, “Hajiji” appeared to agree, but said the matter could be addressed later in the process.
Only a fool would conclude the state’s chief executive was meddling in the licence application process.
Sabah’s land is blessed with bountiful mineral deposits which, if properly harnessed, could shape the state’s economic trajectory for decades to come.
Strategic oversight at the highest level is therefore to be expected.
It would be proper for the chief minister, as custodian of the state’s development vision, to take an interest in ensuring that decisions taken by state-owned agencies like SMM are aligned with the state’s priorities.
And “Hajiji” struck all the right notes, commending the presence of Bumi Suria’s top corporate leadership at the meeting as proof of its genuine intent.
SMM has since confirmed that the board imposed certain conditions on the application. That suggests diligence in its mineral management, rather than a dereliction of duty as the stories appear to suggest.
The fact is, Bumi Suria did not pursue the application, and had its conditional approval cancelled.
All questions answered, another storm in a Sabah teacup is set to blow over.
The media must learn that to generate real public discourse, reporting must be fact-driven—not left to rest on conjecture.
Idris Mohktar is a FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.