Ex-DO admits being ordered not to brief Shafie
KUNDASANG: Former Tenom District Officer Siriman Bashir has admitted that he was once directed to prevent Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal from attending a briefing at the Tenom District Office ‘kerana arahan dari atas’ (on orders of his superiors).
Siriman said before Shafie’s arrival at the Tenom District Office, he received a call from his superiors in Kota Kinabalu informing him that he was not to conduct any briefing at the District Office.
“Datuk Seri (Shafie), I was the one who was told to prevent you from getting a briefing on Tenom’s rural development programmes despite the fact you were the (federal) minister of KKLW,” Siriman said in a statement on Sunday.
“I received orders from my superiors who were acting on orders from someone higher than them, but nevertheless, the briefing was still carried out, at the Umno Tenom office.”
Siriman, who is the Parti Warisan Sabah candidate for Kundasang, disclosed this at a meet-the-people gathering in Lohan, Ranau, in the presence of Shafie a few weeks ago, and apologised for what had happened.
On Sunday, he said he needed to issue the statement to put things right, as Tan Sri Musa Aman, the caretaker Sabah chief minister, claimed Shafie was lying when he said he was denied the opportunity of meeting local state officials.
Musa, when speaking in Tongod on Saturday said he did not stop Shafie as he wanted to see “greater development in Sabah,” while adding that he wanted to work to provide better infrastructure and basic utilities, such as water and electricity as well as roads, especially in the rural areas.
Shafie, who is Parti Warisan Sabah president, has alleged in his speeches during his statewide tour of Sabah, that Musa had prevented him from being briefed by Sabah District Officers as well as district engineers and heads of the district Public Works Department.