SANDAKAN – Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin has lashed out at Warisan over a photo of him with what seems to be a dish of turtle eggs, accusing the opposition party of spreading the “fake” image.
The Sabah deputy chief minister said the eggs he was having at the dinner table were in fact chicken eggs and were not from the endangered turtle.
“Dirty politics will not get you anywhere, that’s why Warisan lost,” he said when commenting to reporters about the photo that has gone viral.
“It was peeled hard boiled chicken eggs, not turtle eggs. I don’t eat turtle eggs. They were chicken eggs. This (accusation) was all caused by a political ploy, and this is ‘dirty’ politics.
“Unlike me, I play ‘quality’ politics. There is no reason for me to play dirty politics when the people have chosen me (to represent them),” Bung said.
Warisan vice-president Datuk Junz Wong was one of the first people to share it on Facebook yesterday. Wong said that the photo was received from a friend, who said it was taken during Bung’s Hari Raya open house.
“I saw that he (Junz Wong) was one of the main people who posted the manipulated photo on Facebook, but when I checked his Facebook, it was gone.
“I am not accusing him. But I told the tourism minister (state minister in charge of wildlife in Sabah, Datuk Jafry Ariffin) that if they want to investigate, then they should start with the person who shared the photo.
“On my side, I am ready to be investigated anytime. After all, I didn’t consume turtle eggs,” he said.
Bung said this at a press conference after he visited Pulau Tg Aru here for the Covid-19 Immunisation Taskforce Outreach Programme conducted there today.
Yesterday, Lamag community development leader Rozamshah Ismail, who was in the shot with Bung, claimed that the viral photo has been edited. He posted what he claimed to be the actual photo, which showed that the eggs were not dented like how turtle eggs should appear.
Meanwhile, Jafry has told The Vibes that he has directed the Sabah Wildlife Department to conduct a full probe on the matter.
In Sabah, turtle eggs are products of a green turtle species (Chelonia mydas), which is fully protected under Schedule 1, Part 1 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
Possession of turtle eggs in the state is an offence under the enactment, punishable with a maximum RM50,000 fine or two years imprisonment, or both, upon conviction. – The Vibes, June 26, 2021
