“THE PRIME Minister should
stop lying and treating Sabahans as fools by making sweeping statements about
Sabah’s rights without checking the facts.
To true Sabahans, the PM is making a fool of himself” said Datuk Dr.
Jeffrey Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah in response to the PM’s statement that
the rights of Sabahans are intact as reported in today’s papers.
“How can the PM say that
Sabah’s rights have not been taken away when it is very clear that from its
position as an equal partner with Malaya in 1963, Sabah is now downgraded to
become the 12th state and its Umno/BN state leaders subservient to Umno/KL
leaders” asked Dr. Jeffrey.
In fact, the maneuvering of
the Umno/federal leaders have resulted in Sabah being made a de-facto colony of
Malaya and the Umno/BN leaders treating Sabah as their “fixed deposit” and
treating Sabahans with disrespect.
Sabahans have also lost
their political franchise and rights when Umno maneuvered itself into Sabah and
misguiding Usno to hand over power to their proxies and stooges. Sabahans further lost their rights to
determine their own future through the evil “Project IC” during Tun Mahathir’s
reign which also resulted in illegal immigrants being given ICs and voting
rights.
The reverse ethnic cleansing
through these illegal immigrants have affected true Sabahans in every aspect
and yet the federal government has been dragging their feet on the RCI.
To top it all, under
Umno/BN’s rule, Sabah is now the poorest State in Malaysia which accounts for
40% of all poor in Malaysia.
What is RM32 million for
schools and RM132 million for infrastructures for Sabah when Sabah contributes
about RM15 billion oil revenue annually to Petronas and for 2011 the federal
government collected about RM22.7 billion in federal taxes and revenue from
Sabah excluding other collections? The
immigration department alone collected about RM200 million from Sabah for 2011.
The federal government has
taken away the right of the Sabah State to collect these revenues when Point 11
of the 20-Points was not implemented.
Point 11 reads:-
“Sabah (North Borneo) should
have control of its own finance, development funds and tariffs.”
The revenue from Sabah’s oil
and gas has been unfairly taken from Sabah when the PM’s own father in 1975
signed the vesting order and granting and vesting the ownership of Sabah’s oil
and gas resources to Petronas.
If the PM means what he
says, he should immediately rescind the vesting order and hand back Sabah’s oil
and gas resources to Sabah.
Since 1975, Sabah’s oil
revenue has been channeled to Malaya via Petronas to develop the Malayan states
at the expense and detriment of Sabah.
Recently, this was acknowledged by the PM himself in Sarawak that for 49
years, Sabah and Sarawak had contributed their revenues towards the development
of Malaya.
It was agreed at the outset
of the formation of Malaysia in 1963 that borneonisation of the Sabah civil
service will take place immediately.
After 49 years, it is clear that the federal government is the
replacement colonial master and taken over almost all the key positions in the
federal civil service in Sabah.
The problem is compounded by
the duplicating roles of federal agencies in Sabah to the extent of usurping
the roles of Sabah agencies. These
federal agencies have even deemed it appropriate to import their staff, even junior
staff, from Malaya and marginalized the local Sabahans. It is all part of a devious scheme to
control and make Sabah a colony of Malaya and Umno.
From 1965 when Singapore was
kicked out of Malaysia, the federal government through their various schemes
manipulated the situation to secure a 75% control of the federal Parliament
when it was agreed in 1963 that Malaya would not have more than 65% of the
parliamentary seats as a constitutional safeguard for Sabah and Sarawak.
History has now shown the
testimony of the Umno federal government in making Sabah now the 12th State and
a subservient state/colony of Malaya.
Even during Usno early days, Umno had sent their adviser and it cannot
be said that what Usno did was purely of their own doing.
During Berjaya’s tenure,
Sabah lost Labuan and its oil revenue.
The then Chief Minister seemed more interested in trying to please the
federal government so as to achieve the political ambition of overthrowing Tun
Mustapha.
During the PBS-era, Tun
Mahathir showed his dictatorial side in sidelining the PBS government which was
democratically elected by the people and even stopped Tan Sri Pairin from being
sworn in as the legitimate Chief Minister.
Mahathir also induced the jumping of PBS elected representatives and
causing the downfall of the PBS government and used his dictatorial powers to
put his opponents in jail under the draconian ISA.
The rotation system of the
Chief Minister was then introduced against the Sabah Constitution to induce and
later trap the other BN leaders while at the same time gerry-mandering the
electoral boundaries to create additional seats for Umno and making it the
single largest component with 32 out of 60 seats. With the Project IC then at its height, the
takeover of Sabah by the federal Umno
government was complete.
Why is the PM turning a
blind eye to these testimonies of loss of Sabah’s rights?
Freedom of religion was
guaranteed by Point No. 1 of the 20-Points as well as the Batu Sumpah (Oath
Stone) in Keningau.
The fact that Sabahans today
no longer enjoy the freedom of religion clearly suggests that they have been
robbed of this right.
In addition, there is a
steady creeping in of the “Ketuanan Melayu” policy where new imported Malays
are accorded better rights than the original indigenous natives, many of whom
are Muslims.
If the PM is correct that
the federal government has given more than due to Sabah and that Sabah received
development and progress similar to their counterparts in Malaya, surely Sabah
will be one of the richest State in Malaysia, if not the richest.
If the PM had only opened
his eyes to his surroundings when officiating the bridge at Padang Pagansakan
and the Native Court Training Institute building in Penampang, he would notice
that the development of the surrounding areas including the road, bridges and
other infrastructure are not on par with the Malayan states.
And that is only 10 miles
from Kota Kinabalu city centre. He
should then imagine how much below par is the development status in the other
areas especially in the interiors like far-flung Pensiangan village.
Better still, on his next
visit which is expected very soon with the growing support for the opposition
and the general elections just around the corner, he should travel by road
instead of helicopter to see for the status of the development in Sabah.
By insisting that Malaysia
is 55 years old now and not 49, the Federal Government is propagating the worst
lie to the people of Sabah and Sarawak. What is motive of the Umno federal
government in manipulating the facts of history?
The PM should learn how to
view Malaysia and the federal government from the perspective of Sabahans and
not just a top view as an Umno leader with a Malayan Agenda.
Sabah has lost a lost since
agreeing to form Malaysia in 1963 and suffered a great deal due to the
manipulations and policies of the Umno federal government in the name of
national integration and the federal government of Malaya in the guise of the
federal government of Malaysia.
There was never a true and
genuine partnership for Sabah in Malaysia.
The federal government has disrespected the Malaysia Agreement, 1963 and
the autonomy and rights of Sabah. After
49 years of an unequal partnership and treatment, Sabahans are now clamouring
for the restoration of their rights and autonomy. The PM and the federal government should
stop treating Sabahans as fools.
The 2012 Budget is nothing
to shout about for Sabahans. Sabahans
deserve more than 1-Malaysia water tanks and BRIMs.
What the Prime Minister can
and should do, if he truly wants to make a difference unlike the past PMs, is
to restore the rights and autonomy of Sabah and the status of Sabah as an equal
partner to Malaya and Sarawak and to treat Sabahans with respect and dignity.
(STAR Media)
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