Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem will elaborate and clarify on the sale of state government’s shares in Sacofa Sdn Bhd (Sacofa) to public listed Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) in the coming State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting.
This was revealed by the Chief Minister’s Office yesterday, in response to the statement by state PKR vice chairman See Chee How on April 16 in which he urged Adenan to seek the approval of the State Legislative Assembly before selling ‘golden goose’ Sacofa.
See, who is Batu Lintang assemblyman, in a press conference on Wednesday, opined that Sacofa was a prized telecommunication infrastructure company and thus it was pertinent for the chief minister to inform the Assembly about the proposed disposal of 50 per cent of state government’s equity in the company to CMS.
“This is to keep up with the state government’s pledge to uphold integrity in the administration,” he said.
Having been caught out over this behind closed doors sale of the state’s communications company for a song to his old boss, the new Chief Minister has now announced he will ‘elaborate and clarify’ the matter to the next state assembly.
He claims that this will fulfil his ‘integrity pledge’ to reform the way things are done in Sarawak.
Sadly, this merely indicates how Sarawak’s top guns no longer have a clue how to manage the administration in an uncorrupted manner.
The State Assembly ought not to be satisfied with an ‘explanation’ after the event, following the rightful condemnation of this shameful deal.
The State Assembly must have the right to debate whether SACOFA should be sold off at all and then vote on the manner of any such sale before any decisions are made.
This is how privatisations are conducted in normal democracies and the SACOFA sale should therefore be cancelled, not merely ‘explained’, until further notice.