Destroyed, did not document artifacts
Published on: Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The work done by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on the three World War II era ships at Usukan Bay was archaeological, and not salvaging any wreckage. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun on Monday said the issue was turned into clearing toxic material, although it was originally intended as a documentation of artifacts. "I had thought they (UMS) would all dive and just do (the documentation) there.
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"But what they did was practically lift the wrecks and destroy the artifacts themselves," he said after the opening of Maximising Investments on Trade Shows, here.Masidi said although the university's archaeological head Baszley Bee Sarah was a respectable archaeologist he would ask "What does an archaeologist have to do with toxic materials?" And for that matter, removing it to another location, when there is not solid proof suggesting that the water had been contaminated. The official reply made by UMS Vice Chancellor Professor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Harun Abdullah on Jan 25 was that the cargo which had to be salvaged for research purposes contained toxic materials weighing 3,000 tonnes.
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Over 90 per cent of the wrecks by the company Ugeens Berjaya Enterprise had been cleared when the university finally instructed it to cease the underwater excavation work. Masidi also said there was nothing "top secret" about the company having to keep under wraps the new location of the shipwreck, adding that the wrecks technically belonged to the State Government.
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He described the Usukan Bay blunder "a sad episode" as many things have gone unanswered despite a tell-all dialogue held on the UMS grounds last Thursday. "Only time will unravel the truth and I'm giving the committee looking into the case to wrap up their work in a month's time. "I'm sure they (the government agencies) are smart to know, if they (the parties involved) had breached the laws and whether it warrants prosecution. "And what is more important are better guidelines and procedures to approve salvage of shipwrecks as obviously, there are overlapping jurisdictions between the Museum and the Marine Department over approving clearing of wreckage," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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