KOTA KINABALU: Whoever forms the next Federal government will have to honour, recognise and respect political autonomy to Sabah, as promised in the Malaysia Agreement, which is the basis for the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
(picture at left - Yong gestures to highlight the inclusion of Sabah/North Borneo in the Philippines maps.)Any attempt to depart from the “letter and spirit” of the formation of Malaysia will only fortify and intensify the Sulu/Philippines claim on Sabah.
Issuing the terse warning was President of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Datuk Yong Teck Lee, while speaking at its second ‘Kopitiam Ceramah’ held in the vicinity of the Foh Sang shops here, on Saturday night.
His speech mainly focused on the perennial issue of Sabah Claim which has recently cropped up following the bloody intrusion of Sabah by Filipino militants proclaiming themselves as the Royal Army of Sulu Sultanate, in Lahad Datu.
He reminded that within the Malaysia Agreement was the Article 8 (A) which talked about the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report between the governments of United Kingdom, Malaya, Singapura, and at that time North Borneo Sabah and Sarawak.
That IGC Report contains the Cobbold Commission Report which in turn contains all the recommendations and the spirit of the ‘20 Points’.
“The gist of all these including various undertakings by the British Government and the Malayan Government at that time is that Sabah will be autonomous – a sovereign state within Malaysia.
“The basis of Malaysia is the Malaysia Agreement which also grants autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak.
“They (the Philippines and the Sulu Sultanate) claimed that Sabah is not part of Malaysia (based on the Malaysia Agreement).
“This has now been highlighted and that if Malaysia were to try to depart from the letter and spirit of the formation of Malaysia, then the Sulu Claim will come in,” he warned.
“Between the Sulu Claim i.e. that Sabah is no longer part of Malaysia or autonomy for Sabah, I think the choice for the Federal government is very obvious,” he added.
Noting that there are a lot of contradictions that need to be resolved by the federal government, Yong reiterated that the federal government will have no choice but to honour, recognise and respect full political autonomy for (to) Sabah.
“Because the other option will result in a strong claim from the Philippines and the Sulu Sultanate if they were perceived to be any departure from the Malaysia Agreement and the spirit of the formation of Malaysia.
“For instance, you cannot say our coastline is too wide therefore you cannot protect us, because security was the main guarantee given to Sabah for forming Malaysia.
“You cannot claim that our maritime area is too wide to guard when you are also extracting oil and gas from our maritime area,” he asserted.
While acknowledging that although legally-speaking the Philippines has no right to claim Sabah, Yong highlighted that politically and psychologically they have been keeping the issue alive all these years, by having all these maps that prominently showed Sabah as part of its sovereignty.
“Politically and psychologically, the Philippines are keeping the issue alive by telling the Filipinos that that there is this place called Sabah/North Borneo that they have a claim to,” he said, adding that “there is no mention of Malaysia in the map showing Sabah, only Sabah/North Borneo,” as he pointed at the maps put up at the talk.
The former Chief Minister was also of the opinion that the invasion of Sabah by the Filipino militants is far from over, and may take the government a long time to deal with it.
“It’s not the end, it was only the ICU (intensive care unit) treatment. Now we have to go for rehabilitation and recovery, and that will take 20 years; don’t listen to Jimmy Wong (Sabah DAP Chief), who claimed that it can be solved within one day. No!” he said.
By Victor Ma
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