KOTA KINABALU – Datuk Guan Dee Koh Hoi has been named new deputy tourism, arts and culture minister.
He replaces Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan, who resigned from the post after becoming deputy chief minister and state agriculture and fisheries minister following the Sabah election on September 26 last year.
Guan Dee is Sabah Star secretary-general, while Jeffrey is party president.
His appointment as minister comes exactly four months after he was appointed senator by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on December 16 last year. He will take his oath tomorrow.
“I am grateful for the appointment, but of course there is a lot of work to be done,” said Guan Dee.
“Among the issues that I will look into is how to rejuvenate Sabah’s tourism industry.”
Guan Dee, 68, who hails from Kuala Penyu, is a former newsman, and had worked with RTM, Bernama and the Daily Express in the 1970s.
He is known for his coverage of the Double Six tragedy – the plane crash that killed Sabah’s first chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens on June 6, 1976.
Pictures of the crash taken by Guan Dee are considered the most memorable photos in the state’s history, and are displayed at the state museum here.
Guan Dee spent four years in Japan to obtain his diploma in agriculture, and worked as a Japanese-speaking tourist guide in Sabah for several years.
He also contested in a number of elections, but lost, before starting the Sabah Star political party with Jeffrey.
He is seen as one of Jeffrey’s most important men, and is Sabah Star’s first president.
“I was made the party president.
“There is a gentleman’s agreement between Jeffrey and me to handover the president’s post moments after the party was registered,” he told The Vibes.
Guan Dee has four children and five grandchildren, and currently resides in Kg Mook in Kinarut, Papar, with his wife. – The Vibes, April 15, 2021
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