GE13: SAPP is fearless in defending State interests

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party will be fearless in defending State interests, pledged its president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, should the party be voted into government in Sunday’s 13th general election.

In its final appeal to the voters, Yong also cautioned that without SAPP and its elected representatives, Sabah’s voice will be drowned out in the noises of KL-centric agenda.

Acknowledging that Sabah has a lot of catching up to do, Yong promised that SAPP will remove the bureaucratic jam caused by the over-concentration of powers in one man which resulted in the strangle-hold over the economy by cronies.

“SAPP will make sure that the government fulfil its duty of public administration to make it easy to comply with the law and risky to defy.

“Economic policy should liberalise the economy in order to set free the capability to grow and prosper that is inherent in humankind; starting with human empowerment, land reforms and local governance,” he said.

Yong also reiterated SAPP’s stand that it will never return to BN, even in the unlikely event that the ruling coalition regains power at both the federal and state levels.

“To do so, would be an unpardonable sin, an act of surrender of our Sabah autonomy and become once again subservient to the dictates of KL,” he vowed.

“SAPP has gone through hell and fire to get out of BN, it is therefore madness to even think of returning to it.”

The former chief minister reminded that during its brief tenure with political power, SAPP has rejected the extension to Sabah of the Local Government Act and Indah Water Konsortium (IWK), besides rejecting the increase in gambling licences.

“With SAPP at its helm, Sabah successfully regained its authority to export logs that were previously blocked by the Malaysian Timber Industry Board.

“Sabah regained power to jointly manage foreign workers issues and the upholding of the Sabah Labour Ordinance. Put simply, SAPP will be fearless in defending Sabah’s interests. Sabah can do more, starting with autonomy,” he stressed.

“Fighting as an underdog in this clash of the titans from outside, SAPP stands up as the only local party voicing Sabah issues,” he said.

Yong pledged that SAPP’s elected representatives in Parliament and in the Sabah Legislative Assembly will make it a “no peace, day or night” for the corrupt and inept leaders who hold high office in Sabah and their political masters in KL.

He thus urged the people of Sabah to vote in SAPP candidates on May 5 to prove that Sabahans have risen up; that SAPP will not under any circumstance return to BN.

By Matthias Hermes