Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

BEAUFORT: Antique owners are urging the Sabah Museum Department to conduct transactions more transparently, especially by avoiding cash payments when acquiring antique items.

An antique collector, who requested anonymity, told the Daily Express that most officers who had approached him to purchase antiques did so using cash.

“They should be paying by cheque instead. Cheques are traceable and would provide assurance that the payments truly come from the Sabah Museum Department.

This would create a more transparent process and prevent any element of fraud,” he said.

He claimed that he had previously sold several antique items but was paid in cash at prices significantly lower than their actual value. 

“There’s a possibility that those items were then resold to the Sabah Museum at much higher prices,” he added.

Among the antiques he still keeps are a samurai sword, rings, a motorised bicycle, an old cannon, a vintage motorcycle, old coins and a Qing Dynasty-era urn used during the Japanese occupation and British colonial rule.

Because of the lack of transparency and the use of cash by certain officers, he no longer wishes to sell his items, believing they may be resold to the museum at inflated prices.

He said his trust in the transaction process was lost following the previous sale, despite still having many valuable antique items in his possession.

“It’s better to keep them myself for the appreciation of future generations, as these items carry deep historical value,” he concluded.