Warisan has misled people with false promises, makes voters look like fools

The Sabah opposition leader says Warisan has made so many U-turns on its promises that it makes voters look like fools

Sabah opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan reminds Warisan leaders who are gung-ho about the Merdeka Month that Malaysia was only formed on Sept 16, 1963.

KOTA KINABALU - Sabah opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan believes the people of Sabah are starting to realise they have been fooled by the sweet promises made by Parti Warisan Sabah, which is now leading the state government.

Speaking to FMT, Kitingan said it was a pity that so many people voted for Warisan only to realise that the party is unable to fulfil its manifesto.

“Warisan has misled the people to support them under the pretext of ‘Sabah for Sabahans’, using the strong Sabah sentiments.

“But less than 100 days later, what do we get? Take for example the Kaiduan Dam. They promised to put a nail on it but in the end, they just renamed it and declared the original Kaiduan Dam scraped.

“In its place is the Papar Dam, which would be situated outside of Penampang but still affects Penampang. Its effects on the environment and people are worse,” he said.

The Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president also said it was funny how the Warisan leaders who were so gung-ho about the “Sabah for Sabahans” theme on their campaign trail were seen to be elated during the launching of the Merdeka Month earlier this week.

He reminded the state government that the so-called Merdeka Month was first and foremost to celebrate the independence of the Federation of Malaya in 1957 and has nothing to do with Malaysia, which only came about on Sept 16, 1963.

“So, taking all these into consideration, I think it was a waste to give Warisan the votes as the voters really believed the party would stay true to its promises.

“The promises were misleading and now we can see they are not doing what they said they will do,” he said.

Kitingan, who is also Keningau MP and Tambunan assemblyman, reminded the federal government of its promise to give back 50% of the net revenue collected in the state back to Sabah, saying that the revenues from collection of SST should also be included in it.

He said he was concerned about the collection of sales tax in Sabah because under the Federal Constitution, Sabah is already collecting its own SST and any attempt to introduce the same tax would mean Sabahans will be taxed twice.

“Hence, I propose that for SST, Sabah should collect it ourselves and then give back the 50% to the federal government. We keep the 50% because they promised that, didn’t they?”

Nevertheless, Kitingan said he was pessimistic that the new government, despite being under a different party, would ever consider giving Sabah its rights.

“After 60 years, they never honoured the Federal Constitution which said we should get back 40% of net revenue collected in Sabah. I don’t see them becoming honourable now.”

He also called on Sabah leaders like International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking to speak up on the issue and fight for Sabah rights “from the inside”.

“When he campaigned, he said the federal government owed Sabah RM1 trillion. Now that he is in the government, he should go get it.

“But I think, overall, they are finding it hard to answer questions because deep inside, they didn’t expect to win. And now, all their words are coming back to bite them,” he said.

By Tracy Patrick