UBF: Roles and presence of fed agencies must be reviewed

“The roles and presence of Federal Agencies and Departments in Sabah and Sarawak must be reviewed” was the reply by the head of the UNITED BORNEO FRONT (UBF), Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, to the residents of Kg. Madang, Tamparuli, in response to queries posed at a Borneo Tea Party event held at the village. To reach the village which is just 18 km. from Topokon Town near Tuaran, the UBF convoy had to traverse a bumpy ride on gravel road and after 48 years of independence and federation in Malaysia, the un-tarred road in the outskirts of Tuaran, less than 40km. from Kota Kinabalu, is totally unacceptable in present day Malaysia where projects are rattled off not in the hundreds of millions but by the billions.

Before the dialogue with the residents, the former assemblyman for Tamparuli, Edward Linggu, had presented “the Genesis of Malaysia” which took the villagers through the history on the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 2011 as a federation of then four independent nations, the then Federation of Malaya, Singapore (which left in 1965), Sabah (North Borneo then) and Sarawak. It was then followed by Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan on the role of UBF and the Borneo Agenda which comprised of seven (7) core objectives of which Agenda No. 7 was the review of the roles and presence of Federal Agencies and Departments in Sabah.

The Lembaga Industry Getah Sabah (LIGS) or the Sabah Rubber Industry Board has a large centre and nursery in Topokon Town yet the Federal Agency, RISDA or Rubber Industry Smallholders Aurhority, has been “muscling” its way into Tuaran, Kota Belud and all the way to Kota Marudu. In addition to RISDA, FELDA and FELCRA are in Sabah in direct conflict to SLDB, Borneo Samudra and Sawit Kinabalu and similarly for many other Federal Agencies and Departments like LPP, Tourism Board and others.

Dr. Jeffrey opined that the Federal Government should just channel the resources to the relevant State Agencies which have a better understanding of the local circumstances leading to better and more efficient management. Such a move would also save unwarranted costs and expenditure incurred in the establishment of the Federal Agencies and which will also prevent duplication of roles and wastage of resources which could be saved and spent on the projects rather than unnecessary administrative costs. Dr. Jeffrey also questioned the sincerity of the policies of the Federal Government and the Federal Agencies in bringing with them officers from West Malaysia to head the Federal Agencies and their branches which was contrary to the policy of Borneonisation agreed upon by the founding fathers of Malaysia with the then leaders of Sabah, Sarawak and Britain.

More importantly, Dr. Jeffrey stressed that the blatant and direct funding by the Federal Agencies like the grants for smallholders for replanting of rubber was a humiliation of the State Government and LIGS as though only the Federal Government through RISDA was able to undertake such funding and support for replanting and not the State Government and LIGS while at the same diluting and whittling away of the powers and influence of LIGS in the eyes of the rubber smallholders and the public in general. Dr. Jeffrey further added that “in a Federal-State relationship, it would have been better for closer cooperation between the Federal Agencies and the State Agencies more so when both are administered by the Barisan Nasional (BN) rather than competing and conflicting with each other” and “if the roles and presence of the Federal Agencies are not reviewed and action taken to remedy the situation, Sabah will end up being “colonized” by the Federal Government and West Malaysia and the State Government and the State Agencies and their roles being reduced or diminished to non-active or insignificant bystanders.”

Dr. Jeffrey then advised the villagers to support the “CINTA SABAH” Campaign being undertaken by BHF and said that if all Sabahans were patriotic and loved Sabah and looked after the rights and interests of Sabah, Sabah can prosper again and regain its position as one of the richest States in Malaysia given its vast and abundant resources and revenues from oil palm, agriculture and especially higher oil royalties which is one of the core objectives under Borneo Agenda No. 2. This will be well aided by a shift in the focus of development from West Malaysia to the Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak by the Federal Government which can be impressed upon the BN or Pakatan Rakyat through the unity of the parliamentarians from Sabah and Sarawak which currently are the “kingmakers” and saviours of the present BN Federal Government.

In accordance with the objectives of the “CINTA SABAH” Campaign, BHF called upon the present State Government and the BN State leaders especially the Sabah UMNO leaders to show a good example by reviewing the roles and presence of the Federal Agencies in Sabah and thereby supporting the “CINTA SABAH” Campaign.

“Support the “CINTA SABAH” Campaign.

Datuk Dr. Jeffrey G. Kitingan
Chairman,
BORNEO HERITAGE FOUNDATION