ANTI-PENINSULA SENTIMENT NOT TRUE

By : G VINOD

PETALING JAYA: PKR today dismissed any notion that Sabah and Sarawak people were against peninsula-based parties from contesting in the states.

Speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters here, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim said that the people of Sabah and Sarawak wanted good governance and to be rid of corruption.

“I travel to the states regularly and the so-called anti-peninsula sentiment is not getting support from the locals.

“All they want are for their interests to be protected and a fair deal for its people,” said the former deputy prime minister when asked to comment on Pakatan Rakyat’s seats negotiations update in Sabah and Sarawak.

Last month, Sabah Progressive People’s Party (SAPP) led by former chief minister Yong Teck Lee reached a deadlock with Pakatan on seat negotiations in the state.

SAPP reportedly wanted about 50% of the state seats in Sabah, prompting Pakatan leaders to advise Yong to be “realistic” in his demands.

Anwar urged Sabah and Sarawak locals not to use Umno as a benchmark to assess all other peninsula-based parties.

He also said that corrupt leaders can come from any race, be it Malay, Iban or Kadazan.

“And as for Sabah and Sarawak, the current corrupt leaders there are the locals from the states,” said Anwar.

Touching on the seat negotiations, Anwar said that seat allocations for Sarawak is 90% complete as it only involved parties within Pakatan.

“Only Sabah is pending for now due to SAPP’s demands. It’s difficult when a party that is not so big is demanding a big share of the seats,” he said.

However, the opposition leader added that he is confident that the matter could be resolved as soon as possible.

“PKR deputy president Azmin Ali is there to negotiate the matter with SAPP. We even told the party that we are willing to let go off several parliamentary and state seats in Sabah to ensure we have a one-to-one electoral battle,” said Anwar. (FMT)