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I welcome the Federal Cabinet’s decision on 29 July 2026 to declassify and release the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report into Lembaga Tabung Haji, covering the pilgrims’ fund’s management from 2014 to 2020. The RCI found serious governance lapses, recommended forensic audits into 13 investments that eroded TH’s asset values, and proposed sweeping reforms including barring active politicians from the TH board. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has since confirmed the Cabinet agreed to widen the RCI’s scope to also cover the Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional administrations. This is exactly what accountability should look like: an independent, evidence-based inquiry into an institution that holds the public’s trust — followed by a published report the people can read for themselves.
If Putrajaya can do this for Tabung Haji, our own Sabah Members of Parliament — regardless of party — should be equally prepared to call for Royal Commissions of Inquiry into the controversies affecting our own state agencies and government-linked companies (GLCs). Sabah is not short of such controversies. What we lack is the political will to have them independently investigated and the findings made public. This is not about digging up dirt on any individual — past or present leaders, civil servants, or community figures. It is about giving today’s generation of Sabah leaders, across party lines, the facts needed to put things right. This must rise above politics.
I propose RCIs into the following six matters that touch the daily lives of every Sabahan, Chinese, Kadazandusun, Murut, Bajau and every other community alike:
1. The 40% Revenue Entitlement to Sabah
On 17 October 2025, the Kota Kinabalu High Court ordered the Federal Government to conduct a joint review with the Sabah Government within 90 days and reach agreement — including on the “lost years” of back payments from 1974 to 2021 — within 180 days with 15 April 2026 as the deadline. The Attorney-General instead appealed and on 3 March 2026, applied for a stay of that order. In May 2026, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim raised Sabah’s interim special grant from RM600 million to RM1.5 billion calling it a temporary measure while negotiations on the final 40% formula continue — with the Sabah government stressing that acceptance of this interim sum is without prejudice to its constitutional rights under Articles 112C and 112D. As of July 2026, only RM600 million of the promised RM1.5 billion had actually been disbursed and the state has said it may appoint an independent arbiter if negotiations fail. More than five decades after the entitlement first fell into dispute and after successive ministers have offered assurances year after year, Sabahans deserve an open inquiry that finally tells us, on the record, why this has taken so long — and holds someone accountable for the delay.
2. SDB as Guarantor for the State’s Holding Companies
In July 2026, the Sabah Government converted RM200 million in state fixed deposits with Sabah Development Bank Berhad (SDB) into Redeemable Preference Shares and allocated RM10 million to POIC Sabah, under the Supplementary Supply Bill 2026. State Finance Minister Masidi Manjun and Assistant Finance Minister Mohd Ishak Ayub insist this is not a “bailout” but prudent restructuring, noting that letting SDB fail could expose the state to roughly RM3 billion in outstanding bonds and other liabilities. They also point to RM3.3 billion recovered from non-performing loans since July 2023. Warisan president Shafie Apdal has publicly disputed this characterisation. Whichever side is right, taxpayers are entitled to an independent, transparent accounting of exactly how much public money has been committed, directly or indirectly, to prop up SDB-linked GLCs over the years, why these companies required such support in the first place and what safeguards will prevent a repeat. An RCI — not a war of words — is the only way to settle this once and for all and chart the next course of action for prudent fiscal management.
3. IMM13 and the Stateless in Sabah
Sabah has carried the IMM13 issue since the 1970s, when the document was first issued on humanitarian grounds to refugees from the southern Philippines conflict. Decades on, an estimated hundreds of thousands of holders and their descendants remain without full citizenship, spanning two to three generations. Legal advocates working with affected communities have identified more than a dozen distinct categories of statelessness in Sabah — from children born to IMM13-holding parents without proper documentation, to Bajau Laut children born at sea with no birth certificate, to Orang Asal in the interior who have never been registered. This is not a simple issue and it should not be left to viral social media rumours or slogans on either side. An RCI is needed to establish, transparently, how large this population really is, what a fair and lawful pathway forward looks like and — the question everyone is afraid to ask plainly — whether the country will eventually have to acknowledge and regularise the status of a fifth generation born in Sabah. This inquiry must also examine the impact on Orang Asal Sabah (OAS) land, jobs, services and on the state’s long-term economy.
4. Water and Electricity Supply and Infrastructure
The state’s own Works Minister has publicly cited Non-Revenue Water (NRW) — treated water that never reaches paying households — at rates as high as 60% in recent years, among the highest in Malaysia, before falling to around 54–56%. In July 2026, the state announced plans to halve NRW to roughly 25% by replacing ageing pipes but billions of ringgit in federal and state allocations over the years have not yet fixed the intermittent supply disruptions and pothole-riddled roads that Sabahans, urban and rural, Chinese towkays and kampung folk alike, continue to endure. Ministers themselves have attributed part of the NRW problem to water theft requiring stronger enforcement, and partly also to old, leaking pipes. An RCI should determine, once and for all, how much of Sabah’s water loss is theft, how much is infrastructure failure, whether reduced catchment from hill clearing is a contributing cause, and whether concessionaire work is being carried out to a standard that accounts for our soil, weather, and heavy vehicle traffic — so that the billions allocated are not wasted again.
5. Flooding in Previously Unaffected Areas
Areas that never used to flood — including parts of Penampang near Phase 1A of the Pan Borneo Highway — now do. State leaders, including a former Deputy Chief Minister, have publicly acknowledged that highway construction may be contributing to the problem by clogging drainage, while disaster researchers have linked hill-cutting further upstream (such as in Togudon) to mudslides and river siltation that leave rivers unable to hold heavy rainfall. The state’s own Public Works Department has confirmed it is still studying whether Pan Borneo Highway works have worsened flooding — years after residents first raised the alarm. An RCI should determine whether flood-mitigation plans have been delayed by land acquisition or utility relocation issues and if so, what the State Government must do to fix this. It should also bring in first-hand witnesses — affected villagers, independent geologists, and former state civil servants — to give sworn, public testimony on what they have seen and experienced, rather than leaving Sabahans to rely on rumour and speculation.
6. Abuse of Power, Land Grabs and the Case for a Sabah Ombudsman
The eviction of 53 families in Kampung Jimpangah, Beaufort in 2025 — where excavators demolished homes as residents wept and pleaded, some occupying the land for over 70 years since their grandparents worked as rubber tappers — remains a painful example of how ordinary Sabahans, especially in the interior, can lose their homes even where the legal process is technically valid. Under current state land law, villagers whose homes sit on land with pending applications can receive as little as RM20,000 in ex-gratia compensation, against real rebuilding costs of RM80,000 to RM150,000. Alongside this, longstanding complaints persist of “pau” and “kopi O” — bribes allegedly demanded to expedite licensing and other applications — and of “Little Napoleons” in local authorities and state departments abusing their discretion. Warisan has previously called in the State Legislative Assembly for an independent graft ombudsman, and our party has piloted a shadow “Ombudsman Outreach” hearing public grievances in villages such as Kg Lumadan, Kg Pononoburan, and Kg Bandau. Sarawak has already shown this is achievable: its Ombudsman Ordinance 2023 became fully operational in 2026, empowered to investigate maladministration across state departments, local authorities, statutory bodies and GLCs, and reporting directly to the Sarawak Legislative Assembly. An RCI into abuse of power and land administration in Sabah should examine, and ultimately recommend, the creation of a similar independent Sabah Ombudsman.
Not a Witch Hunt — A Way Forward
I wish to state clearly: these proposed inquiries are not intended to find fault with individuals from any previous or current administration — be they politicians, civil servants or community leaders. The purpose is to help the current generation of Sabah’s leaders, across all parties and all communities, chart a way forward and put Sabah back on the right track. This matters to every Sabahan regardless of race or religion — to Chinese business owners who need reliable water and power to run their shops and factories and to Kadazandusun families whose ancestral land, rivers and hills are directly affected by these controversies. If the Federal Government is genuinely committed to making Sabah a progressive state within Malaysia, it must be honest enough to let the truth be examined in the open — just as it has now done for Tabung Haji.
While many Sabahans may ask: ‘What is the point of another Royal Commission of Inquiry when the recommendations of the RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah have yet to be fully implemented?’ That is a valid concern. However, the answer is not to abandon independent inquiries altogether. Rather, we must ensure that any future RCI comes with clear timelines, public reporting, parliamentary or State Legislative Assembly oversight and a legal obligation for the Government to respond formally to every recommendation.
Christopher Masudal
State Strategic Communication Director
Parti Warisan
References
– The Vibes, “Cabinet unveils Tabung Haji RCI report…” (29 July 2026)
– New Straits Times, “Zahid: Cabinet expands Tabung Haji RCI scope” (July 2026)
– The Star, “RCI report recommends major governance overhaul for Tabung Haji” (29 July 2026)
– The Star / NST / The Vibes, coverage of Sabah’s 40% special grant negotiations (May–July 2026)
– Sabah Media, “No Deal Better Than a Bad Deal: Sabah Must Not Fold on the 40%” (9 March 2026)
– Malay Mail / Borneo Post, “Sabah denies RM210m GLC allocation as bailout…” (21–22 July 2026)
– New Malaysia Herald, “Stateless In Sabah: Lawyers See Way Forward” (20 April 2026)
– Borneo Post, “Relax MyKas rules for stateless Sabahans, MHO tells govt” (21 May 2026)
– The Star / Borneo Post / NST, coverage of Sabah’s Non-Revenue Water rates (2023–2026)
– Southeast Asia Globe, “Malaysia development throws open nature’s flood gates”
– Jesselton Times, “The Borneo Fortress — Special Report Part 2: Deep Dive into the Sabah Land Ordinance” (30 July 2026)
– The Vibes / The Star, coverage of the Kg Jimpangah, Beaufort eviction (May 2025)
– Malaysiakini, “Warisan calls for graft ombudsman, Sabah whistleblower protection law” (16 April 2025)
– Sarawak Tribune, “Sarawak Ombudsman Fully Operational, Strengthens Governance And Accountability” (15 May 2026)
