The Sabah Foundation () or Yayasan Sabah Group (YSG) is a state sanctioned organisation that was developed to promote educational and economic opportunities for its people. It was founded by Tun Mustapha Harun and manages a diverse portfolio of resources and issues. Ghulamhaidar Khan is the incumbent director of the foundation.

History

The

Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu (; formerly known as Jesselton), colloquially referred to as KK, is the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia. It is also the capital of the Kota Kinabalu District as well as the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the ...

-based

think-tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

was allowed to be established by 1966 Sabah State Legislative Assembly Enactment No. 8. The foundation was created in 1966 by Tun Mustapha Harun to create educational opportunities for the country's

Malaysian people Malaysians ( Malay: ''Orang Malaysia'') are citizens who are identified with the country of Malaysia. Although citizens make up the majority of Malaysians, non-citizen residents may also claim a Malaysian identity. The country is home to pe ...

. Four years later its scope was expanded to include economic and social advancement. It also coordinates distribution of resources in the event of a natural disaster to those in need. It was Tun Mustapa Harun's further goal "to promote

Malayisation Malayisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or Malayization (North American English, North American and Oxford spelling, Oxford spelling) is a process of Cultural assimilation, assimilation and acculturation, tha ...

consciousness amongst the people of Sabah."

1967–1975

In 1967, coinciding with the formation of the Sabah Foundation, the Ministry of Natural Resources was abolished. The government gave the foundation of land and a grant of 1 million

ringgit The Malaysian ringgit (; plural: ringgit; symbol: RM; currency code: MYR; Malay name: ''Ringgit Malaysia''; formerly the Malaysian dollar) is the currency of Malaysia. Issued by the Central Bank of Malaysia, it is divided into 100 cents ( M ...

to fund the start-up of the organisation. In 1970, Sabah Foundation was tasked, through a 100-year lease, of managing the 855,000 hectares of

virgin forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

. Nineteen years later their total holdings were 1.07 million hectares. Sabah's total

land area This is a list of the world's countries and their dependencies, ranked by total area, including land and water. This list includes entries that are not limited to those in the ISO 3166-1 standard, which covers sovereign states and dependent ...

is 7.4 million

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. Tun Mustapha's withhelded earnings should have been paid to the state and used the fund for political purposes, providing proceeds to the electorate and to support his political associates.

Harold Crouch Harold Arthur Crouch (18 July 1940 – 27 August 2023) was an Australian political science scholar and author. He had been described as "one of the pre-eminent scholars of Indonesian politics." Most of his books were published under "Harold Crou ...

wrote of Tun Mustapha's resulting political power: In late 1975 Tun Mustapha was forced by the government to resign. The Sabah State government then pulled the foundation under the authority of the government. The foundation over-harvested its timber natural resources to fund its political agenda.

1975−1985

Although the foundation was no longer a private entity, the state government, led by the

Berjaya Sabah People's United Front or in Malay ''Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah'' is more commonly known by its abbreviation BERJAYA, was a political party based in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. BERJAYA was formed by former United Sabah National Or ...

political party, did not have the control that they expected because financial investments continued to be controlled by Innoprise, an entity and within the foundation responsible for managing its investments. The Sabah Foundation's large budget allows it to continued to manage a diverse range of activities, including

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship of a host towards a guest, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill and welcome. This includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, ...

and

tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, agro-plantation,

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

and

food industry The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

, and the

oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

. It continued to wield political power, including state elections between 1978 and 1990.

1986−present

After the Berjaya and until 1994, the

Parti Bersatu Sabah The United Sabah Party or formerly known as United Sabah Movement (; abbrev: PBS) is a political party of Sabah. PBS had been recognized by the people of Sabah as ''historical local party'' since 1985. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kiti ...

(PBS) political party gained control of the government, "in opposition to the national government". In 1991 Jeffrey Kitingan, Sabah Foundation head, was detained under the Internal Security Act for 31 months for "plotting the secession of Sabah from the Malaysian Foundation" and then fired from his position at the foundation. Charges of corruption were dropped when Jeffrey Kitigan left the PBS political party. In 1994, the

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...

(UMNO) had political control. During this time Sabah Foundation continued its developmental efforts with little governmental intervention. In 1994 a

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along ...

audit revealed that Sabah Foundation accounts were missing more than $1 billion, evidence of accusations of corruption. At that time, Innoprise had more than a dozen subsidiaries with little oversight. Based upon the audit results, Sabah Foundation was reorganised, governmental officials were to site on its board of trustees and Chief Minister Datuk Salleh Tun Said chaired the board. In 2012 allegations were brought against the foundation's former Chief Minister Musa Aman for embezzling over $90 million from the foundation. In 2018, Shafie Apdal, Sabah Foundation chairman, ordered a full investigation into the financial affairs of Rakyat Berjaya, which is fully owned by the foundation.

Organisation

Sabah Foundation is now under the Sabah Government with three organisational divisions: * Sapangar SDN. BHD * Innoprise Corporation SDN. BHD * KKYS SDN. BHD

Research library

Within Sabah Foundation's

Tun Mustapha Tower Tun Mustapha Tower ( Malay: ''Menara Tun Mustapha'') is a 30-storey, 122-metre-tall glass tower in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. It was built in 1976 by Mori Building Company, a Japanese property development and management firm. The buildin ...

headquarters complex is the Fuad Stephens Borneo Research Library, named for former Chief Minister

Tun Fuad Stephens Muhammad Fuad Stephens, (born Donald Aloysius Marmaduke Stephens; 14 September 1920 – 6 June 1976) was a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as the 1st and 5th Chief Minister of Sabah from September 1963 to December 1964 and aga ...

. It was established with the support of the

National Library of Malaysia The National Library of Malaysia ( Malay: ''Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia'') (PNM) is a library established under the National Library Act 1972 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The National Library is responsible for providing a collection of knowle ...

, Mara Institute of Technology Library,

Sabah State Library Sabah State Library () is a state department under the State Ministry of Education and Innovation Sabah which manages each of the public library branches in Sabah state of Malaysia which is in turn a constituent feeder library of the National L ...

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia The National University of Malaysia (, abbreviated as UKM) is a public research university located in Bandar Baru Bangi, Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia. Its teaching hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC), ...

Library and the

Sabah State Museum The Sabah Museum ( Malay: ''Muzium Sabah'') is the state museum of Sabah, Malaysia. It is sited on of land at Bukit Istana Lama in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital. History The original Sabah Museum location was established on 15 July 1965 i ...

Librarian. It is a three-level building with a total area of 3,135.48 square metres. Its objective is to "undertake strategic initiatives to function as a primary information resource center - contributing towards establishing a knowledge-economic society."

Reception

Foundation trustees and staff are appointed by the

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

. The foundation likened to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n President

Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

and "heavily criticised for its partisan nature" assuming that it "was a device for imposing mainstream Malay culture onto Dayak (and in particular

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language The Iban language () is spoken by the Iban, one of the Dayak ethnic groups who live in Brunei, the Indonesian provinc ...

) youth". One year after the organisation's creation, Sabah Foundation's founder, Tun Mustapha Harun, became chief minister of Sabah.

Environmental issues

In the 1970s, logging increased in its concession area. Sabah Foundation has a 100-year logging concession. Conversion of forest areas to land for oil palms is a major threat for rainforests. Some forest areas are conserved, however. 14 Borneo pygmy elephants were found dead in a concession area of Sabah Foundation within two weeks in 2013, the cause likely being

poisoning Poisoning is the harmful effect which occurs when Toxicity, toxic substances are introduced into the body. The term "poisoning" is a derivative of poison, a term describing any chemical substance that may harm or kill a living organism upon ...

Educational initiatives

The Sabah Foundation is involved in a number of educational initiatives in Sabah including the Sabah Foundation Technical College (KTYS) and the University College Sabah Foundation.

History

1967–1975

1975−1985

1986−present

Organisation

Research library

Reception

Environmental issues

Educational initiatives

See also

References

External links

Further reading