KOTA KINABALU – Sri Tanjong assemblyman Justin Wong has called on Sabah Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan to clarify the status of the nature conservation agreement (NCA) in Sabah.
Wong expressed concern, noting that Kitingan has issued contradictory statements compared to those made by the Sabah chief minister.
Citing recent news reports, the Warisan assemblyman pointed out that Kitingan was reported to have said that Sabah intends to proceed with the NCA for carbon credit sales despite facing objections.
This contradicts the statement made by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor in December last year, where he mentioned that the Sabah government had not initiated the NCA deal yet due to several technical issues that needed resolution.
“Hajiji and Jeffrey are saying different things on the NCA. They have been inconsistent and incoherent about this deal. Jeffrey has the responsibility to explain if the NCA has indeed started or not.
“It seems that they have different views internally in the Sabah cabinet. Any statement that comes out from any cabinet member must be consistent and uniform, but what we can clearly see now is discrepancies between Sabah’s number one and number two,” he said in a statement today.
Wong also urged Kitingan to elucidate why he persisted in proceeding with the deal involving the controversial Singapore-based company Hoch Standard, particularly given Kitingan’s admission in the state assembly sitting that he had misconstrued Hoch Standard’s US$10 million (approximately RM47.8 million) paid-up capital.
“Hoch Standard’s actual paid-up capital was only US$1,000. How can we refrain from questioning the legitimacy of this company, given its recent establishment and meagre capital?
“Jeffrey must, at the very least, instil confidence in us regarding this company – especially considering its involvement in a pilot project encompassing 600,000ha of Sabah’s land.
“You are sending the wrong signal to the public by suggesting that a company with a mere US$1,000 in capital is capable of undertaking such a huge project,” he said.
Wong also questioned why Kitingan proceeded with implementing the NCA deal despite the statement from Sabah Attorney-General Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof, who declared the NCA “legally impotent” in February 2022.
Yesterday, Kitingan, the chairman of the Steering and Management Committee for the Implementation of the NCA, was reported in The Borneo Post claiming that certain non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had attempted to mislead indigenous people in Sabah into rejecting carbon trading.
Wong expressed his belief that the NGOs were not attempting to mislead people but rather responding to the inconsistent reactions from the Sabah government.
“Just like me, I believe that NGOs were simply advocating for transparency and a comprehensive explanation regarding the NCA.
“The NCA is not a trivial matter – it holds significant importance for Sabah, encompassing the management of carbon credit sales for two million hectares of forest reserves over a century,” he said.
The controversial NCA
In November 2021, the NCA deal garnered significant attention when an environmental news site claimed that a 100-year carbon trading agreement had been signed between the Sabah government and the third-party Hoch Standard.
The deal involved two million hectares of Sabah’s forests in a 70:30 distribution, with Sabah receiving the larger share and Hoch Standard Ltd acquiring the smaller portion. It was reported that the agreement was executed without the involvement of indigenous communities.
This development faced immediate opposition from Sabah’s environmental and social civil society organisations, primarily due to the perceived lack of transparency in the deal.
In February 2022, it was reported that Kitingan said that he had decided to work with a Singaporean company for the NCA deal to take advantage of the fact that Singapore is a triple-A-rated nation with great connections given its financial institution status.
In August 2023, a group of civil societies in Sabah said they would file a judicial review against the Sabah government to ensure that due diligence and other requirements are followed in the process of the NCA, saying that the NCA still failed to address many conservation and socio-economic concerns without proper procedures and accountability.
However, in the same month, Jeffrey said the NCA is still moving forward while confirming that a pilot project for the NCA would be implemented at the Nuluhon Trusmadi Forest Reserve in interior Sabah.
He added that the deal with Hoch Standard was still under implementation to meet various international requirements.
It was reported that the Hoch Standard has since been taken over by the British Virgin Island-based company Lionsgate.
In December last year, Hajiji said that the Sabah government had no problem with the NCA deal starting, but the matter is still pending due to many technical issues that needed to be resolved. – February 21, 2024