Jeffrey Kitingan, 42, director of IDS, younger brother of Chief Minister of Sabah Pairin Kitingan, is charged in a high court with seven counts of corruption. The corruption charges are in regards to the export of timber.
July 1990
PBS calls for a 50-50 redistribution of revenue from Sabah's resources, particularly from crude oil. At the time, the distribution is 95–5, with 95% going to the federal government and 5% to Sabah. Sabah produces a fifth of Malaysia's total crude oil output. State election was held on 16 to 17 July. Before the election, PBS left the Barisan Nasional coalition and won with a two-thirds majority in the state assembly.
Damit Undikai, 54, PBS member and former Special Branch officer, is arrested by Special Branch police forces on 18 May, for allegedly heading plans to secede Sabah from the Malaysian federation.
Albinus Yudah, 41, chief of security at Borneo Rest House, member of PBS and KCA, and former police constable, is arrested on 25 May.
Benedict Topin, 37, PBS member, Executive Secretary of KCA, is arrested on 25 May. The Malaysian police claims to have been monitoring him since 1987.
July 1990
Abdul Rahman Ahmad, 51, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Sabah, is arrested on 7 July.
January 1991
Maximus Ongkili, 37, senior researcher and deputy chief director of IDS, nephew of Jeffrey Kitingan and Chief Minister of Sabah Joseph Pairin Kitingan, electoral press consultant to Pairin Kitingan during the 1990 Sabah state and national elections, is arrested on 3 January.
Vincent Chung, manager of administration and personnel, Sabah Foundation, is arrested on 19 January.
Maximus Ongkili is released unconditionally on 2 March.
May 1991
Jeffrey Kitingan is arrested on 13 May.
Present day
Present-day political conditions in Sabah and Malaysia have taken a surprising turn, in comparison with the conditions during Operation Talkak. Several of the previously detained figures have gone on to assume prominent positions in the current Malaysian government. These political conditions, and political choices of the previously detained figures, have been met with mixed receptions by the public.
Parti Bersatu Sabah, under the leadership of Pairin Kitingan, has been a member of the Barisan Nasional coalition since 2002, but has since left in 2018 due to the electoral defeat of the BN coalition.
Berita Sabah (Sabah News), a weekly compact newspaper partly owned by Jeffrey Kitingan, has its publication license suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs in August 1997. The newspaper published news from the opposition and various pro-PBS news. The licence was revoked on the grounds of "spreading fitnah (lies)".[1]