Luqman's musings

  Despite frequent discussions on transparency and integrity by prominent leaders such as Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji, Governor Tun Musa Aman, and the Sultans of Perak and Pahang in newspapers and social media, the actions of some civil servants and heads of statutory bodies in Sabah appear to fall short of these principles. Since 2022, I have highlighted several instances on my blog that contradict the Chief Minister’s repeated calls for transparency and accountability. Below are a few examples:

                                                                  A recent article from Focus Malaysia dated June 20, 2025, titled “GRS-ruled Sabah state government puts public trust first as graft buster MACC acts,” highlights the Sabah state government’s commitment to clean governance. LINK

  The Lembaga Juruukur Sabah (Sabah Surveyors Board) LJS is a non-profit statutory body established under the Surveyors Ordinance 1960 in Sabah, Malaysia. Its primary role is to regulate and oversee the land surveying profession in the state, ensuring professionalism, ethical standards, and proper execution of survey-related activities.

Developers typically engage Licensed Surveyors (LS) for three distinct phases of a construction project: pre-construction (e.g., boundary and topographic surveys), construction phase (e.g., setting out and progress surveys), and post-construction “as-built” surveys (to verify that the constructed project aligns with approved plans). While it’s not mandatory to use the same surveyor for all phases, developers often prefer a single LS for continuity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. My thoughts: Why was Jurukur Terra Firma engaged to do the as-built survey when the sales and purchase agreement had the name of Jurukur Bakat? Would this not be considered a breach of contract?

  Tatal ke bawah untuk membaca dalam Bahasa Melayu Is it for better protection for house buyers or for some other reason? Here is an email I wrote on 16.8.2023 to the Minister in charge of Housing and copied to the Mayor, DBKK officers, LPPB, Sabah Surveyors Board, Land & Survey Department, Datuk Jamili Nais, and Datuk Roland Chia (PA to the Chief Minister - Datuk Hajiji). Dear Datuk Seri Joachim Gunsalam, In a Daily Express article dated 11.8.2023, I read the following: “In general, this enactment is a law for the licensing control of housing development matters in Sabah and serves to protect the interest of home buyers….”. This enactment is to protect the interest of home buyers of ‘sick housing’ projects so that they will not turn into abandoned housing. “The essence of the amendment to this Bill is firstly, to protect homebuyers, especially from problematic housing development. Secondly, the purpose is also to prevent any housing developers from taking the easy w...

  The above is the headline in yesterday’s, 6.8.2023, Daily Express . Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is determined to put a stop to corrupt practices and irregularities which he said seemed to have become systemic and damaged the previous administration. He claimed that the previous governments were beset by the practice of officials asking for a ‘commission’. I have avoided talking about ‘commission’ as I have no evidence of the same. But, I have questioned how DBKK approved the Vistana Heights project that flouted many of the laws - rules and regulations - in the Housing and Town Development Authority Enactment.

  I complained to Sabah Surveyors Board about the fabrication of the as-built survey drawing on 15.12.2022.   On 28.6.2023, 6 months after my complaint, the Committee members of the Sabah Surveyors Board (Lembaga Jurukur Sabah) came for a site visit and took some survey points to determine the height difference between the road and the house platform. 

‘ Anwar warned that no one will be spared from prosecution for corruption regardless of their status.’ What is the best way to fight corruption? i.                      expose corrupt activities and risks. ii.                    keep the public sector honest, transparent and accountable. iii.                  stop dishonest practices. iv.                  ensure public sector employees act in the public interest.

  On 15.12.2022, I handed a complaint letter together with the As-built Survey, Original Development Plan and Amended Development Plan as well as my explanation of the discrepancy to Lembaga Jurukur Sabah (Sabah Surveyors Board).   It is now more than 5 months and the answer I got from them is that the investigation has not been completed.   I don’t understand why it take such a long time to do a simple examination. My main complaint is that the As-built- survey plan does not reconcile with the on-site situation.   Why isn’t the investigation not completed even after 5 months? What is there to investigate?   A Survey Department should be able to get a licenced surveyor to survey a few points and determine if the as-built survey plan submitted to obtain the Occupancy Certificate is correct.   Here are the correspondences between me and Lembaga Jurukur Sabah.

  KKTP - Stanley Chong - alleged fraudulent development plan approved Read the stages I have gone through before writing to Kementerian Kerajaan Tempatan dan Perumahan (KKTP) - Ministry of Local Housing and Government. I give everyone enough time to respond before escalating the matter to higher authorities. It has taken me 3 years, since I first complained to Ms. Jessie Lee of Topwira Corporation Sdn. Bhd, to get to KKTP.   Here is my email to Mr. Stanley Chong, the deputy permanent secretary of KKTP copied to his PA.  

This is a continuation of my post ' Development plan and as built survey ' dated 10.12.2022. The image below is the as-built-survey drawing of S11 (Lot 19). The green dot is where the driveway is. The figure 34.28 on the 15.24m road is the height of the road in metres which equals 110.31 feet. The porch height is shown as 34.63m which is equal to 111.44 feet. This means the difference in height between the road and the porch is (111.44 - 110.31) 1.13 feet.