KIT SIANG ON 20-POINT AGREEMENT

20 POINT...No body can answer 20 points why Kit Siang car punctured at Parliament parking lot?

THE Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak Federal government should seriously implement the 20-Point Agreement on Borneonisation by setting target to fill at least half of 59 Federal departments in Sabah with Sabahans as heads before the next Malaysia Day on September 16, 2011, said DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.

“Najib should table this target at the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday to demonstrate that his administration is serious in wanting to address the 47-year grievances, frustrations and discontents of Sabahans and Sarawakians making the first Malaysia Day as a national public holiday really worthwhile and meaningful,” he said.

He said Sabahans are disappointed that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has come to Sabah completely empty-handed for the first Malaysia Day national public holiday in 47 years.

“This makes a complete mockery of the belated recognition of the importance and significance of September 16 as Malaysia Day in the history of Malaysian nation-building process, which involves the rightful place of Sabahans and Sarawakians in the Malaysian scheme of things,” he contended.

Speaking at the Malam Pakatan Rakyat gathering cum dinner held in Beaufort on Thursday, Lim further contended that had not for People’s Power as represented by the emergence of Pakatan Rakyat, Malaysia Day on September 16 would not have been declared a national public holiday by the Prime Minister even after 47 years.

He continued that this is why the people of Sabah and Sarawak do not want to see the declaration of Malaysia Day as a national public holiday as a mere political ploy, but want it to symbolize a belated recognition by and wake-up call for the Federal Government after 47 years to take seriously and address full-heartedly the frustrations, grievances and alienations suffered by Sabahans and Sarawakians for three generations at not being given full and fair treatment as Malaysian citizens by removing once and for all the nagging sense felt by Sabahans and Sarawakians that they are not accorded recognition and rights as first-class citizens of Malaysia.

“This is why Sabahans and Sarawakians expect more than having Malaysia Day declared as a national public holiday why Sabahans expect Najib to come to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan on the occasion of Malaysia Day to announce concrete measures how the Barisan Nasional Federal Government proposes to begin to address and resolve their 47-year-old grievances, frustrations and disaffections at not being given fair and proper treatment under the Malaysian sun.

“For a start, how does Najib propose to fully implement the Twenty-Point Agreement which was the “magna carta” for Sabah in 1963 to join hands with Sarawak, Malaya and Singapore to establish the new nation and federation of Malaysia?” he asked.

Lim said this was especially significant citing there has been repeated calls by United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Dusun Murut Organisation (UPKO), a component party of the Sabah Barisan Nasional, urging the Federal Government to fulfill what have been promised in the 20 Points Agreement.

He was obviously referring to a recent news report quoting UPKO vice president Senator Datuk Maijol Mahap that “Sabahans losing patience over 20 Points”.

Maijol said: “Even after 47 years of being part of Malaysia, they are still waiting for the time when the 20 Points Agreement will be fully fulfilled.”

“The minimum Sabahans had expected from Najib on his visit to Sabah to celebrate Malaysia Day as the first national public holiday is an acknowledgement and commitment by him as Prime Minister to fully implement the 20 Points Agreement,” Lim said.

He said this was also why he had during a news conference in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday morning and at the historic launching of Pakatan Rakyat Sabah on the same night, recommended to the Prime Minister the idea of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Twenty Points Agreement to assess their success, shortfalls and failures so that all the 20 Points can be fully implemented.

“Unfortunately, my proposal has been ignored and the hopes of Sabahans and Sarawakians that their 47-year-old grievances and discontents will at last be addressed have been dashed with Najib coming to Sabah completely empty-handed.

“Najib should make immediate amends for this serious omission by tabling the full implementation of the 20 Points Agreement as the first item of business at the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday, putting on the Cabinet agenda the proposal for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 20 Points Agreement,” he urged.

He then highlighted that one of the Twenty Points Agreement referred to a “proper Ministerial system in North Borneo” had been violated in the past 47 years.

“Otherwise we would have seen a fair distribution of the state’s wealth and resources among Sabahans and not the abnormality firstly, of Sabah which started as one of the richest states in Malaysia deteriorating to be one of the poorest states after 47 years; and secondly, the emergence of a coterie of new rich revolving around the Chief Minister or ex-Chief Ministers and ex-state ministers and their cronies while the overwhelming majority of Sabahans remain poor,” he contended.

He thus reiterated that a Royal Commission of Inquiry should be established to look into the 20-Point Agreement and to conduct a full and comprehensive investigation into nearly five decades of misrule, corruption and gross abuse of power in the state which negated and nullified the pledge of the Sabah Magna Carta for “a proper Ministerial system” in Sabah.

Another Twenty-Point pledge is Borneanisation, which stipulated: “Borneanisation of the public service should proceed as quickly as possible.”

“What has the Barisan Nasional Federal Government to show for “Borneanisation” of the public service in Sabah after 47 years?

“I understand that out of 59 Federal departments, only five are headed by Sabahans. Over 80 per cent of school heads in the education department in Sabah are filled by officers from Peninsular Malaysia, which is clearly against the spirit and letter of the Twenty-Points on Borneanisation after 47 years,” he said.