STAR EXPLAINS OUTDATED SLOGAN

THE SABAH for Sabahans is not the slogan of the Borneo Alliance, but “rights and autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak” is, say the state Reform Party (STAR).

“But if the BN leaders feel this is the slogan of the Borneo Alliance, so be it,” said STAR Sabah’s Deputy Chairman, Daniel John Jambun in a statement here.

He was responding to the speech in Parliament on wednesday by Kota Belud MP, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan that the slogan 'Sabah for Sabahans' being played up by the opposition 'to confuse the people' is outdated while it is detrimental to national integration.

“If it is outdated, how come the people are rising up by the thousands to come forward and support this new idea?” asked Jambun. “This is what the people want, and they are supporting us because they have realized the BN is not giving it to them!”

Jambun, who is also the Advisor for the UKI-Based Human Rights Foundation Malaysia, said it is now general knowledge, even among the illiterate villagers in the Interior, that the BN/Umno government have come to Sabah to colonize and to take away a lot more than what it gives.

“And that is why they are finding new hope with the Borneo Alliance,” he said. “If Rahman feels this is bad for national integration, I would like to ask him what had BN done for integration between Sabahans and Peninsular Malaysians?

"What is being done is the other way round. Umno is causing disunity by promoting Malay supremacy through such NGOs as Perkasa and Jati, and when Ibrahim Ali attacks non-Malays and non-Muslims, Umno leaders don’t do anything to shut him up. Because of this 1Malaysia is meaningless.”

“What national integration is Rahman talking about if after 48 years of independence we are insulted by questions like ‘Bila sampai Malaysia’ when we land in KL?” he added. “What BN wants is not national integration but national hegemony, to control Sabah and Sarawak and to take our revenues, to ensure we become subservient to KL.”

And this, Jambun said, is the reason Sabahans have become so parochial. “We don’t want to isolate ourselves from the rest of Malaysians as Rahman suggested, but we just want to have the same rights for development and economic opportunity as those in the Peninsular,” he said. “We also want bigger shares of our own revenues so we don’t have to beg from KL. Is this too much to ask?”