Quixotic Quest for Accountability
Challenging silence, demanding integrity
Has my vision of a better Sabah — one properly managed by civil servants and politicians — been too idealistic, unrealistic, and impractical?
That is the question I have wrestled with for the past four years, ever since I began my fight against the developer of Vistana Heights. The houses there were built in blatant disregard of the development plan submitted to DBKK. A retaining wall was never constructed, though an engineer supposedly supervised it. An architect submitted an as‑built survey plan, then disclaimed responsibility for another professional’s work, despite being the principal submitting officer. DBKK issued an occupancy certificate despite serious discrepancies in the submitted documentation—discrepancies that remain unexplained to this day.
The failures did not stop there. The former State Secretary and Mayor of Kota Kinabalu ignored repeated emails. The Ministry of Local Government and Housing (KKTP) cancelled a crucial meeting with the developer, architect, former State Secretary, Mayor, Attorney General, and Housing Secretary and me — and never reconvened it.
And let us not forget: before being appointed as the Sabah State Secretary in 2019, Datuk Seri Panglima Sr. Haji Safar bin Untong served as the Director of the Sabah Lands and Surveys Department (Jabatan Tanah dan Ukur). He remained Sabah State Secretary until his retirement in June 2026. That background makes the silence and inaction even more troubling, for one would expect a leader with such experience to uphold the highest standards of land governance and accountability.
These failures are not isolated. They are symptoms of a deeper malaise: a culture of impunity, where accountability is evaded and responsibility is shuffled away. I have written before about the “little Napoleons” who wield petty authority without regard for the public good. The truth is, institutional oversight has weakened, leaving ordinary Sabahans to pay the price for bureaucratic inaction.
Yet, I am encouraged. The strong response to my recent posts on the mismanagement at Golf Garden — the shares, the comments, the solidarity — shows that Sabahans are not indifferent. We care. We notice. We speak up. And when we do, change becomes possible.
A better‑governed Sabah will not come from silence. It will come when we, the people, question wrongdoing by our local authorities, demand explanations, and take them to task. Transparency and accountability are not luxuries; they are the foundation of good governance.
My quest may seem quixotic, but it is not futile. Every voice raised against mismanagement chips away at the wall of complacency. Every act of public oversight strengthens the culture of integrity. Together, we can ensure that Sabah is not run for the convenience of developers or the comfort of bureaucrats, but for the welfare of its people.
Do look out for my post tomorrow — and if it resonates, click ‘like’ or, better yet, share your own experiences in the comments. Together we can build this conversation into a movement for accountability.
Comments
Ruth Yap: author
I wrote a letter to the previous SUT of KKTP, raising issue about the lack of proper waste management in rural areas. Local councils washing their hands off the problem, stating it's outside of their jurisdiction. The meeting was supposed to be held some time earlier this year, but then it got postponed...and when I tried following up, there was either no response or another excuse of delaying, it almost felt like a delaying tactic. Today, the SUT has been promoted to another department. That means I have to restart the whole conversation again. Well, that's the good fight that we have to keep fighting, because evil prevails when good men do nothing. So let's keep speaking up and keep fighting
Your determination to keep pressing on waste management in rural areas reflects the very accountability I wrote about. If we stop speaking up, the delays become permanent. If we keep raising our voices, even when the system tries to wear us down, we remind those in power that these problems cannot simply be ignored.
Let’s continue to hold our institutions to their duties. As you rightly said, evil prevails when good men do nothing — and your effort shows that good men and women in Sabah are refusing to stay silent.