Gan Ee Seng, an investor in Kuantan-based logging firm Seruan Gemilang Makmur Sdn Bhd, said he will go on a hunger strike today at Padang Kota Damansara until he collapses. Then, he will burn himself to death.
“Maybe I will kill myself just to let the people know that we want justice and we hope the police can do something,” he told reporters here.
This is his second hunger strike.
In September last year, shareholders of Seruan Gemilang Makmur went on a relay hunger strike for about 10 days, resulting in two people who collapsed and had to be sent to hospital for treatment.
In a May 2007 decision by the Kuantan High Court, Seruan Gemilang Makmur was awarded RM37,127,471.60 in damages with eight per cent interest per annum backdated to December 31, 2000 after it won a breach of contract suit against the Pahang government and the state forestry director.
The court ruled that state government and the state Forestry Department were in breach a of logging concession contract concerning the extraction of timber logs from a 10,000-acre plot of Umno-owned land in Mukim Bebar, Pekan district.
“Of course (it’s about the money) because I borrowed money from my friends and relatives,” Gan said, adding that he has invested about RM700,000 in the company.
Seruan Gemilang Makmur obtained a mandamus order from the Kuantan High Court to compel Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob to settle the amount after its attempt to demand for the judgment sum with interest was unsuccessful.
The Court of Appeal, in reversing the Kuantan High Court’s decision, ruled that Seruan Gemilang Makmur had wrongly named the mentri besar as the respondent in the judicial review proceeding in the High Court to demand for the judgment sum from the state government.
“I feel very disappointed with the state government because they didn’t follow the law, even though we won the High Court, and yet, we still didn’t get our payment,” Gan said.
Former manager and director Lee Sin, who is still a shareholder, told reporters that they are in the process of naming the state financial officer in a new application for a mandamus order.
Today, he also claimed that Pahang Umno secretary Datuk Rahim Abas had falsely used the party’s name to demand Seruan Gemilang to pay it whatever amount that was awarded by the state, citing that the land belongs to the party.
“Based on my investigation, I found that that the state had taken back their land in 2003,” Lee said. He had also lodged a police report in January this year.
Lee explained that the company had spent about RM10 million to obtain a logging licence for the 10,000-acre land in 2001.
However, at the end of 2002, the mentri besar had decided to stop issuing licences to them.
Lee said at that point, only about 3,000 acres of land had been worked.
