Harris first to use Bahasa in Assembly
Published on: Saturday, June 11, 2022
By: Dailly Express
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1965: Finance Minister Harris Mohd Salleh assured in the State Assembly that the Government would do everything possible to encourage native participation in commerce and industry. What was more significant in his message was that he delivered it in Malay, becoming the first person to use the national language in the Assembly’s history.
Tunku holds out hope for Alliance win in Sabah polls
1967: Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman expressed hope in Kuala Lumpur that the Sabah Alliance comprising Usno, Upko, SCA and Sabah Indian Congress will win the elections “despite the difference between the Parties”. He said the defeats of the Chief Minister and other two Ministers in initial results did not mean the Alliance was out of favour. He also hoped Malaysia and Indonesia would be able to normalise relations after the elections in Sabah and Sarawak. The full Sabah elections results are expected to be known by the end of the month, while Szrawak is tentatively expected to go to the polls before the end of the year. In both the States the main issue will be their desire to remain within the Federation.
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1967: An Independent candidate Yap Pak Leong caused the biggest upset in Sabah’s first State elections by ousting Chief Minister Peter Lo in a straight fight for the Elopura constituency.
Yap polled 2,715 votes beating Peter, the Sabah Chinese Association (SCA) President by the biggest majority in the first seven results known so far. – 1,496
Peter, who polled 1,219 votes, was appointed as an interim Chief Minister while Usno’s Tun Mustapha and Upko’s Dato Stephens engaged in rivalry. (Stephens was appointed first Chief Minister, while Mustapha was appointed first Governor, respectively, upon Sabah’s admission into Malaysia in 1963. Mustapha suddenly decided to quit his TYT post later, urged Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman to pave the way for elections and of his desire to contest).
Altogether three State Ministers losts their seats in the first day’s results. The others were Usno Minister for Social Welfare Dato Mohd Yassin who lost in a straight fight to Upko’s Tingkalor Lampag and Minister for Natural Resourses Thomas Jayasuria of Upko who lost to SCA’s Lee Vui Min in five-concerned fight.
Two days later, Upko Sec-Gen Peter Mojuntin, described by Usno’s Tun Mustapha as a “political teenegar” beat Alex Ng (Usno) by 4,819 votes for the Moyog seat. Alex was also chairman of the Sabah Electricity Board (SEB) and the margin was the largest following Chief Minister Peter Lo’s fall earlier. The battle for bumiputra votes was fought hardest in Penampang (Moyog), an Upko stronghold, where Usno promised electricity for the villagers if it won.
Polling went with little or no trouble despite heated campaigning during the last four weeks. An unconfirmed report said a clash occurred between political opponents in Kampung Drahau in Tanjung Aru. In Beaufort a police report was lodged by Upko member of Parliament Stanley Ho that a person was canvassing for Usno at the time the people were going to the polls. On investigation, the person was found to be an Umno member from West Malaysia. Elections Commission sources also said the were investigating charges of corruption in this first elections but details were not available.
Upko President Dato Donald Stephens said the initial results showed that “ the racial campaign carried out by the Usno-SCA clique against his Party was not working according to plan”.
Demo of fishing methods using new technology
1963: Fisheries Officer Chin Phui Kong boarded the department’s new trawler, the Kahansanan, with half dozen local fishermen to witness a demonstration of modern fishing methods. The echo sounder on the vessel detected several shoals of fish off Sepanggar Bay and a terylene net was winched down as the trawling gears worked. A half pickul of silvery fish was hauled up 20 minutes later. Chin remarked that the 50 katis of fish should fetch 30-40 sen per kati at the market. Chin noted that the average catch of local fishermen in their small sampans was about two pickuls per month, something the trawler would be able to scoop up in one morning. He suggested that the fishermen pool their recourses to acquire such a vessel so that they could increase their profits by fishing more, farther and in shifts all day. The fishermen had one problem – raising the $22,000 to buy such a vessel. Chin said the Kahansanan would be available for charter for three months at a time with fishermen only paying running cost such as fuel and giving the Government 30 per cent of their catch.
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