PRESS STATEMENT
25 JULY 2025
On 21 July 2024, news portal MalaysiaNow reported that Bumi Suria Sdn Bhd was awarded the exploration licence for coal mining by Sabah Mineral Management Sdn Bhd (SMM). Documents obtained from an insider by the portal showed that Bumi Suria was granted exclusive rights to explore and search for minerals on 70,000 hectares in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara forest reserves near the Kalimantan border. Together with Aminuddin Mustapha, Bumi Suria is owned by Farhash Wafa Salvador, former political aide to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Audio clips later released by MalaysiaNow were claimed to be proof of Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor voicing support for Bumi Suria. The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) strongly urges immediate, thorough, and transparent investigations into the allegations made by MalaysiaNow.
When asked to comment, SMM CEO Natasha Sim denied that companies linked to Farhash had been awarded licenses, further stressing that SMM had no authority to do so. Farhash himself responded to MalaysiaNow’s allegations as “fake news” while demanding a retraction of the report through a legal letter – MalaysiaNow has refused to retract the report. These developments come against the backdrop of the ongoing Sabah whistleblower scandal, which saw a series of video exposés implicating several assemblypersons – including State Minister of Finance Masidi Manjun – in allegedly corrupt acts. These were revealed by businessperson Albert Tei, who has himself been charged by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for bribe-giving, having been denied whistleblower protection even after providing crucial information to aid investigations.
Farhash himself has been the subject of scrutiny not too long ago. In September 2024, Bloomberg released a report citing three sources who claimed that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had ordered MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki not to investigate Farhash over the latter’s purchase of shares in HeiTech Padu Bhd. The latest audio clip released by MalaysiaNow allegedly shows Hajiji Noor as expressing support for Bumi Suria, going as far to say that “… the important thing is that we approve its application,” despite a comment stating that 70,000 hectares is “too big,” allegedly by Sabah state secretary Safar Untong. Notably, the area in question is purportedly three times the size of Kuala Lumpur.
These allegations are incredibly serious and clearly warrant further investigation, especially since they possibly implicate individuals who are part of the current ruling coalition, and also those associated with Anwar Ibrahim directly. There is growing concern reaching a fever pitch surrounding the Madani government’s approach (or lack thereof) towards combatting corruption, with less than satisfactory results. The Sabah state government corruption scandal saw student groups take to the streets to call for decisive action to be taken against the perpetrators, but instead they faced harassment and intimidation from the authorities. Along with long-standing criticism of the MACC’s lack of independence and its alleged use to initiate selective prosecutions to further political goals, discontent towards the current administration’s handling of corruption is reaching an all-time high.
Hence, C4 Center strongly urges that the MACC open further investigations into the matter directly. Furthermore, we demand that the focus of such investigations should be about the alleged corruption, and not the way in which information is made public – a persistent trend in recent cases. This distracts from the goal of uncovering and curbing actual corruption taking place within government administration, and positions information providers as equally wrong for not using “proper channels” to reveal information.
END OF STATEMENT
Issued by:
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center)
For further enquiries, please contact:
c4center@gmail.com
019-216 6218
Website: https://c4center.org
