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Daily Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Express
Chan on his arrest, detention in Kepayan
Published on: Sunday, July 13, 2025 Published on: Sun, Jul 13, 2025 By: Kan Yaw Chong Text Size: Chan in an interview with Daily Express. Also seen are his son and wife he married in 1964. IN yesterday's Daily Express report entitled 'Duo recall the dark ages during Usno', the opening paragraph started this way: 'It was a long-coming rendezvous between former fellow detainees at the infamous 'Kepayan Detention Camp', Datuk Yap Pak Leong and veteran journalist cum editor, Chan Kwong Yuen, both 90, at a book launch here, Thursday. 'The occasion was the launching of Chan's autobiography, 'Sixty years in the Storms of Journalism'.' Calling those days 'dark times', Yap, a former Minister of Labour and Environmental Development (1976-79) under the Berjaya Government headed by Tan Sri Harris Salleh, made this terse remark: 'I am sure you heard about the Kepayan Detention Camp, Chan and myself were there, for me it was two years and seven months, for Chan, 18 months. Those were dark times. We have suffered in Kepayan, we can forgive, not forget.' That Usno-led period in Sabah was labelled as Sabah's 'dark ages'. If you can read Chinese, Chan's book has documented juicy accounts of that datk age from a top-dog journalist. In a post-book launch interview, Chan said he was never told the reason why he was detained. Here is the rest of the interview: Daily Express: What's the reason behind your detention? Chan: Why I was arrested and detained, they did not give reason. Many of those arrested and detained in Kepayan asked why they were arrested and detained, they also did not know for what reason. There were some natives there, although there were a few who were really politically obvious, one is Datuk Yap Pak Leong and several others I could figure out politics must be the reason but there were natives from Kudat who looked like simple kampong folks arrested and detained. They themselves were also baffled why. My guess is the possibility of some explosive kampong discontent. DE: In your case, you also did not know why? Chan: Like me, the reason could the stream of reports we published on Independents opposed to ruling Sabah Alliance (led by Usno) , we did our best to report but is still don't know the precise reason but if you think about it, if not because of those reports, what else? DE: The problem is the reporting? Chan: Yes, but we just reported the political activities by a few individuals, such as Chong Thien Vun who went to Sandakan to mount public political campaigns, we just reported them as what journalist do – reported what's there. DE: What's your arrest and detention like? Chan: What's inside like is in my book, you go in, it's like going into a police station, the night we were detained, we were brought to detention room in the police station. The usual practice is take off your clothes, trousers except your underwear, and then put in a room that can accommodate five to six persons, that's the first step in Sandakan on the night of arrest. We were put into the detention room, for about a week, and then transferred to the Kampung Sim Sim prison where we spent one month, after which they flew us by plane to Kota Kinabalu and driven into the Kepayan Detention Centre. DE: What's the inside like at Kepayan? Chan: There were about 20 of us detained in one big block, there were Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, all detained together, including a few Chinese, a few Kadazans and a few Bajaus. That's Kepayan. From that time, you could be detained one year or two years and after that they had the power to continue to detain you, depending on the political decision. DE: How was life in detention? Chan: Like normal, two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, after that, talk, sleep. If you don't want to be confined, you can apply to come out to work in a factory, you can choose what work you want, such as carpentry, drawing or others. You work until afternoon. Sometimes you can be out to exercise, play games, like volleyball, looks like free but within the confines of the detention centre. DE: What does your heart say about today's book launch? Chan: Originally, I thought this would be just a passing event but later on got so moved when I saw the crowd who packed the room, buy the book and kept me very busy autographing for them. That sort of surprise… respect for a mere journalist was eye-opening and it touched me. DE: You are 90 now, what's your secret? Chan: Nothing special, no special supplementary extras to prop up wellness. DE: How did you manage to remember 60 years of your career? Chan: Some parts I wrote from memory supplemented by 50pc from a search for facts by going back to some published clips I had cut out and filed, the Sabah Archive keep newspapers but anything before 1963 they don't have.
Daily Express
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Express
Things looking bright under GRS
Published on: Sunday, May 11, 2025 Published on: Sun, May 11, 2025 By: Datuk Teddy Chin Text Size: Sabah Maju Jaya signage on display in Papar on 16.9.1963 THE next State general election is expected later this year. The general belief is that expires on 29th September, the date that current Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hj Hajiji Hj Noor was sworn-in for a five-year term in 2020. But my belief is that the Assembly actually expires on 8th December. This is because the 16th Assembly first sat on 9th October 2020 and the Constitution of Sabah stipulates that elections must be held within 5 years of the first Assembly Sitting, plus a 60-day window after the Assembly dissolves. However, it is up to the Assembly Speaker to make a statement on this. Assuming the above is correct, it means that the next election can be held as late as December or end of the year. Anyway, it's up to the Chief Minister on when he would like to dissolve the Assembly, or just let the Assembly 'finish' by itself. If Hajiji wants to 'rule' until the last day, it is understandable. Political history of Sabah has shown that sometimes dissolving the Assembly early or calling for a snap election can have negative results. The Usno-led Alliance Government called for a snap election in 1976 in order to disallow the new party Berjaya space to grow. Alliance lost the election. In 1985, Berjaya also dissolved the Assembly early in order to prevent the newly-formed PBS space to grow. Berjaya not only lost the election. It was a humiliating defeat as it saw the party's strength in the Assembly dwindling from 44 seats to merely 6. Usno made a miraculous comeback in that election, winning 16 seats and was supposed to form a coalition government with PBS. That was the expectation. In 1994, PBS called for a snap election. Rumour had it that this was to prevent KL having time to redraw the electoral boundaries to BN's favour. PBS won alright, but razor-thin. Just like 1985, it only had a simple majority. As expected, the PBS government collapsed less than two months later when 3 of its Assemblymen including a Nominated one jumped. The rest is history. Back to what I actually want to say. As the election gets nearer, one can expect the Opposition to fire all the ammunition that they have against the ruling party. One common tactic is asking the people what the ruling party has done past few years. 'Nothing', they would claim even if they know that this is not true. This is politics. During World War II, Hitler's propaganda chief Herman Goering said that if a lie is repeated often enough, it will eventually be accepted as the truth. Some people tend to believe in lies or propaganda rather than the truth. To some people, especially the Opposition, whatever the Government does is wrong. Back to common sense, let us ask did the present State government do anything concrete to improve Sabahans' lot past few years? The answer is YES, although the Opposition will say 'No' for otherwise they would be out of business. Did any State Government since 2018 have any concrete plan for Sabah's development and progress? In March 2021, despite Sabah still facing the menace of Covid-19, CM Hajiji launched the Sabah Maju Jaya Roadmap or Halatuju SMJ, just a few months after being sworn-in as the State's Chief Executive. It was meant to be a five-year plan from 2021-2025, nicely covering Hajiji's and the GRS+ government's 5-year term. In launching it, Hajiji said the SMJ development plan has outlined three main thrusts to develop the State from 2021-2025. He said the thrusts were based on the SMJ slogan where S refers to the three main economic sectors covering agriculture, industry and tourism; the letter M refers to human capital and the well-being of the people; while the letter J refers to green infrastructure and sustainability networks. 'The three main SMJ thrusts will be driven by five enablers, namely fiscal sustainability, financial facilities, effective and efficient delivery, excellency in integrity and governance, and digital government. 'SMJ is not a personal plan owned by the Chief Minister and Cabinet members, nor is it the right of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government or a plan just for civil servants…SMJ is our Roadmap (Halatuju) and State Coat of Arms which is the right and property of all Sabahans.' Hajiji said five implementation objectives have also been outlined, namely to build a united, peaceful and prosperous State and society; to optimize State resources and revenue, stimulate economic recovery; improve the people's economy and improve human capital. He said the SMJ plan would move in line with the national development agenda under the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030. And was a manifestation of the commitment as pledged by GRS in the 16th State election in 2020. He said to ensure the SMJ Roadmap achieve its goals, every core and enabler would be supported by various initiatives 'To date, a total of 584 initiatives covering 304 core initiatives and 280 enablers have been drafted for implementation starting this year,' he added. The above was what Hajiji said when he launched the SMJ Roadmap in 2021. A lot of water has since flowed under the bridge. Has the SMJ Roadmap achieved its objectives? Any results to show? For me to tell everything here would require a book. For now, I just give the background. More details and updates in the coming weeks. In order not to keep you in suspense, I would just like to quote what Hajiji said recently when launching the Gagasan Rakyat Information Machinery. He said many initiatives have been carried out by the GRS+ government last few years especially, those under the SMJ Roadmap initiatives. 'Educational aid initiative, public welfare such as Rumah Mesra SMJ and the Sentuhan Kasih Rakyat Programme, success in attracting foreign investors to help boost economic growth and job opportunities. This is what the GRS government has implemented over the last four years,' he said. It is understood that the two China and Korean companies alone in KKIP are offering job opportunities to a few thousand Sabah youths with expansion to Kimanis. Speaking to youths at another function, Hajiji said this year alone, the State Government allocated $75.5 million to implement 13 comprehensive educational assistance initiatives. These include the Higher Education Enrolment Cash Aid (Budi), Special Examination Cash Aid (Bakti), Local Higher Education Students' Contribution (Sentosa), Flight Ticket Subsidy (GRS-SUBFLY) and Computer Assistance Grant (Baik). 'In addition, funding for the Sabah State Government Scholarship (BKNS) has been increased from $51 million to $128 million this year, enabling more students to pursue higher education,' he said. Meanwhile, the SMJ slogan is to be respected, not mocked at it is or State Motto as enshrined in the Sabah Coat of Arms. A backbencher at the State Assembly who early last year mocked it was told off by the then Deputy Speaker, Datuk Ahmad Abdul Rahman who said 'If in Pakistan, you would have been shot….' In a recent interview with this writer, the Chief Minister among other things expressed his utmost concern about water and electricity supply in the State, along with other infrastructure projects such as roads. 'We are doing everything we can on the water and electricity situation. Things should improve tremendously once the $4 billion project at hydroelectric plant in Ulus Padas is completed,' he said. The plant is expected to produce 187.5mw and expected to be completed by 2027. It was jointly launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Hajiji Hj Noor. It is expected to increase capacity by 15%. A study is also being conducted so that this dam has the potential to supply clean and stable water flow to users up to 6,000 liters per day (MLD). That aside, Sabah Electricity is also doing all it can with a massive project in Lahad Datu while the Water Department is expanding the Water Treatment or Distribution Plants in Telibong, Putatan and Papar. The Borneo Highway construction and other infrastructure facilities are also progressing well. Things are looking bright for Sabah under GRS+ and Hajiji. In conclusion, credit must also go back the man behind the implementation of the SMJ Roadmap Initiatives – the Chief Coordinating Officer of the SMJ Secretariat, Datuk Hj Datu Rosmadi Datu Sulai. Rosmadi is the former Director General of the State Public Service Department and has been with SMJ from Day One. Rosmadi's experience as a former senior civil servant in various capacities certainly prepared well for this new role. Looks like the Chief Minister did not choose the wrong person. Sabah Maju Jaya. The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: [email protected]
