Yong in response on the issue of 4-D lottery licence

1. National UMNO leaders do not have the moral authority to speak on the issue of gambling in Sabah because they bring up such matters only when it suits their purposes.
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2. In the April 2007 Ijok by-election, DPM Datuk Seri Najib using the mobile phone of Sabah Minister Datuk Raymond Tan, talked to me to cut short my conference overseas in order to quickly return to Malaysia to make a statement in Ijok to attack Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the subject of the lottery licence. I made the trip, stated the facts and returned to Sabah.
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3. The facts also remain that, from 1996 to 1998, it was only the State Government which held firm in our stance to resist the federal licence granted to a 4-digit lottery company to operate in Sabah. None of the federal UMNO leaders at the time lifted a finger to help the Sabah BN State Cabinet overcome the ¡§table slamming and files throwing¡¨ by the then DPM (and UMNO Deputy President). It was also Anwar who, as part of the BN promises of 1994, reduced the number of 4-D gaming outlets by 150 outlets and cut the number of slot machines per club from ten to five.
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4. After the 1997 meeting at Sandakan (between Anwar and the then State Cabinet on the gaming licence issue), I met the then PM (Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad) in his office and presented the stand of the State Government on gaming, complete with the statistics of gaming licences in all the States and FTs and an analysis of the social ills of gaming. Tun Dr. Mahathir then left the matter to the State Government. Unknown to him (Dr. Mahathir) at the time, in my pocket was my signed resignation letter addressed to the PM (also BN Chairman) in case I was instructed to approve the State licence to the gaming company, which I would be unable to do as that would be against the interests of the State and people. Anwar did not pursue the matter anymore.
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5. Till this day, I am grateful to the State Cabinet ministers of 1997 (from Sabah UMNO, SAPP, UPKO, PBRS, AKAR) who stood by me as CM in overcoming this difficult episode with the central government.
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6. But to the dismay of Sabahans, in 2001 the BN government issued the licence at both the State and Federal levels to the lottery company concerned. Further, to add insult to injury, slot machines were increased from five per club to ten per club. If any UMNO leader wishes to pursue this matter, I can volunteer the facts and sequence of events in more detail.

Issued by SAPP HQ Kota Kinabalu (22/08/2008)

http://www.sapp.org.my