ADDRESS BY OUR INCOMING PRESIDENT, MR ALEXANDER YEE

Mr Alexander Yee greeted all members who attended the AGM via zoom as he was visiting
the Borneo Elephant Sanctuary at Lot 8 Kinabatangan on the day of the meeting and could
not be present in Kota Kinabalu.

First and foremost, he reiterated that his love and passion for Sabah motivated him to take
up the challenge to lead SEPA as its President for the term 2021-2023. He believed that “if
we don’t speak up for Sabah, no one else will.” It is his utmost intention to work with
everybody in SEPA to bring the Association to the next level.

Alexander expressed his appreciation to the immediate past President Dr Lanash, SEPA’s
founding president Dr Henry Chok (present at the AGM), Mr Wong Tack & all past leaders
who has led SEPA and helped transform Sabah to what we see today. Alexander felt that he
is standing on the shoulders of these giants and the foundation laid by them will ease his
tasks when leading the Association. He would not profess to come in and sweep everything
clean, as there was a saying “The new brooms sweep clean but the old one knows where
the dirts are”. He will certainly be engaging with past leaders and work together.

During the AGM, Alexander had listened to a few challenges that the members have raised.
These included the ceasing of working partnership between SEPA and the State government
through the Environment Action Committee, the monetary issues arose from the plastic
bags project and the unaudited accounts of SEPA. He trusts that with his experiences and
expertise (from the private sector and non-governmental organisations) he will be able to
sort these issues out.

Going forward, one of the first tasks at hand is to re-evaluate SEPA by referring to the
Constitution of SEPA. Alexander wants to fine tune and up-date the Constitution to reflect
the current affairs affecting Sabah and at the same time, adhering to the initial aims and
purposes of SEPA set forth by the founding president Dr Henry Chok.

The Association has four main objectives; to nurture, to protect, to enhance & to create
awareness to the environment. As its new president, Alexander will be proposing to instil a
sense of continuity to SEPA by forming sub working committees which includes former
presidents such as Tuan SM Muthu as advisor. A youth team is to be formed and in all our
activities, we have have Mr Lau as our legal advisor. This way, the legacy of our founders &
past leaders can be guided properly, natured and pass on to future generations, that SEPA
can carry on for many years even after Alexander has cease to head it.

Alexander then proceeded to give some back ground information of himself. He is a
Sabahan who was born in Kudat but grew up in Kasigui, Penampang. He studied abroad for
20 years before coming back to Sabah. His first business venture when he returned to Sabah
was to start a bed & breakfast outfit called Trekkers Lodge in Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu.
Later on, he started another tourism venture in Kinabatangan and that was where he learnt
about the importance of carrying out conservation works. He is one of the founding
members and the current sitting president of Kinabatangan-corridor of life Tourism
Operator Association (KiTA). His other tourism venture is Rumah Terbalik, the Upside Down
House of Borneo and the idea behind it is to remind the public that if we do not conserve
and protect our environment with well plan development, the world we live in will turned
upside down and we will perished with it.

Addressing the concern by Ms Sharon Koh that Alexander is currently sitting on the board of
trustee for WWF and that he will not be able to represent SEPA fully since WWF is seen to
be rather pro-government. To this Alexander highlighted to everyone that he had founded 2
conservation oriented bodies; FOSTER (Friends Of Sea Turtles Education & Research) which
conducts turtle conservation works on Pulau Libaran in Sandakan and RESPECT (RESPonsible
Elephant Conservation Trust) which is a Malaysian registered trust, carrying out elephant
habitat conservation works in Tawai near Terlupid. While representing these two bodies
Alexander has often spoken out on issues relating to sea turtles and pygmy elephants. And
as the president of KiTA, Alexander has openly disagreed with the government of the day on
the proposed construction of the Sukau bridge. Alexander then highlighted to everyone that
there are currently two trustees of WWF in Sabah. One of them is the Ex-Attorney General
of Sabah, Datuk Brenndon Soh. Datuk Soh sits on the board of trustee in WWF, at the same
time advising the chief minister and the government on many matters including
environmental issues of Sabah. It is a thin fine line to be able to tip toe upon, but he has
done that with professionalism. Before Alexander took up this challenge as the president of
SEPA he had in fact consulted Datuk Soh and the WWF team in Sabah. They felt that given
the experiences Alexander has in the tourism & conservation works for the past 20 years, he
is equipped with the knowledge and capable of striking a balance between dealing with
government bodies & NGO associations.

Alexander then went on to inform everyone attending the AGM that while serving as on the
board of trustee of WWF, he has in fact spoken up against the un-natural death of the
pygmy elephants in Sabah and has recently condemned an ex-parliamentarian for
consuming turtle eggs in Beluran. He has also raised concerns to the government when
news of wanting to build the Sukau bridge re-emerged. He finds there is no conflict of
interest if one speaks the truth with the intention to conserve and protect nature. He
assured all SEPA members that he is looking forward to work with everyone in SEPA in the
next 2 years and that ‘we are not here to constantly fight with the government, we are here to work with the government and to strike towards building a better Sabah for everybody
and our future generations”.

Alexander then ended with a cautionary note that SEPA members have to remain as one
effective and united body so that no outside forces can divide us. Trustfully two years from
now, those financial issues brought up during the AGM will be resolved and our books are
done in a transparent manner and that no outsider will question our abilities and therefore
able to divide and break us up. He hopes through SEPA, he can work together to build a
better future for Sabah.