State govt leaders sidelining Sabah's special rights

The Chairman of the UNITED BORNEO FRONT (UBF) told the descendants of Tun Datu Mustapha at a Borneo Tea Party gathering at Kepayan Ridge on Saturday, Sept. 24th that the Sabah Government leaders are giving too much priority to their own Party's interests and vested interests at the expense of sidelining and sometimes foregoing Sabah’s special rights and the rights of Sabahans.

Although they were pushed and rushed into the formation of Malaysia, the Founding Fathers of Sabah (then North Borneo) before and at the time of the formation of Malaysia in 1963 had the heart and interests of Sabah and Sabahans.  The protection of the rights and interests of Sabah and Sabahans can be seen via the 20-Points Memorandum, the Reports of the Cobbold Commission and the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC), the Malaysia Agreement, 1963 itself and assurances and promises by the leaders of the then Malaya.

Sadly, the same cannot be said of the Sabah leaders since West Malaysian political leaders made their way into Sabah and the problem was compounded since the BN/UMNO State Government which only implement decisions made in West Malaysia and often by the political leaders especially in UMNO without any reference to or discussions with Sabahans.  In addition, Sabah BN leaders just stood by and allowed the continuous erosion of Sabah’s special rights ending with Sabah being equivalent to a State in West Malaysia and Sabah being the poorest State in Malaysia while Petronas ends up with 95% of Sabah’s oil and gas revenue amounting to tens of billions annually.

If Sabahans do not seize the current “window of opportunity” to stand united and utilize the unity to seek and restore the rights and interests of Sabah, Sabah will forever be downgraded to be 12th or 13th State (after Sarawak) and “colonized” and ruled by West Malaysians and West Malaysian political parties.

The interests of the West Malaysian political parties especially UMNO were always paramount and the rights and interests of Sabah and Sabahans are sidelined or ignored completely.  The scenario worsened after the stopping of the rotation of the Chief Minister when the local Sabah leaders are muted and gagged and downgraded to mere followers.  The CM rotation system is not sanctioned by the State Constitution and in hindsight, the system was a ploy used by Kuala Lumpur to lure the Sabah leaders to team up with UMNO initially and place them under Kuala Lumpur’s control.   The ploy was accepted by the Sabah leaders with their own vision of power sharing but the vision soon became a nightmare when the rotation was stopped permanently when UMNO assumed the chief ministership for good.

Dr. Jeffrey lamented that “very good examples are the oil royalties where the “rakyat” wishes for higher royalties have been ignored and the “Project IC” and illegal immigrants issue where even a Federal Select Cabinet Committee had been formed and headed by a Federal Minister from Sabah, the submission of Memorandum by BN components and the Petition by the “rakyat” organized by SAPP but there is not a whimper let alone a concrete response from Putrajaya.”   Even the hiring of school computer technicians need to be filled by West Malaysians and Sabahans trained by the State Government are sidelined and simple administrative decisions like transfer of teachers and students need to be approved by Putrajaya.  “What then is the purpose of having a Sabah Minister for education and a Ministerial Cabinet as the State Government?”

“The efforts of the Founding Fathers including Tun Datu Mustapha who had initially opposed the entry of UMNO into Sabah are all wasted” and “What is the use of having safeguards in the Malaysia Agreement and the Federal Constitution when the State leaders keep standing by and allowing the rights and interests of Sabah and Sabahans to be eroded continuously” added Dr. Jeffrey to the BTP gathering.

The crowded roared in approval when Dr. Jeffrey opined that if the current leaders still fail to look after the interests of  Sabah and Sabahans, then it is time for Sabahans to be united and use their votes to change the State leaders and the State Government.

UBF in line with Borneo Agenda No. 1 further hoped that the people in the Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak will be united in purpose to seek and restore their rightful place in Malaysia so that all Sabahans and Sarawakians can get their fair share of progress and development in Malaysia and enjoy a better and more enriching quality of life.

Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan further calls for all patriotic Sabahans to be united and support the rights and interests of Sabah and Sabahans and support the “CINTA SABAH” Campaign.

Datuk Dr. Jeffrey G. Kitingan
Chairman,
UNITED BORNEO FRONT