KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee has asked Pakatan Rakyat to honour the principle that Pakatan parties contest more of the parliamentary seats and let Sabah parties contest a majority of Sabah state seats.Yong made the call when responding to Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sudden, unexpected re-opening of the door to negotiations between Pakatan Rakyat and SAPP on seats.
He said after the dissolution of Parliament April 3, SAPP had already reiterated that it would not contest Sandakan MP seat and shall retain its two incumbent state seats, Tanjung Papat and Elopura within the Sandakan parliamentary constituency. This would let DAP have an easy win at Sandakan. Regrettably, even this perfect formula had been rejected by DAP which wants to contest the state seats as well.
“Further, SAPP maintains promise made in January 2012 that we do not contest Penampang MP seat. This means SAPP has given PR a free hand to win the two MP seats. Actually, SAPP could also contest these two MP seats at no extra costs and efforts because SAPP will contest the state seat within these two MP areas. Yet SAPP and PKR insist to contest all the State seats in Sabah plus the MP seats,” he said.
Yong said DAP Supremo Lim Kit Siang had already admitted that PR cannot win Sabah. So why does PR still want to be a spoiler?
“Look at Labuan, where SAPP already declared last year that we will support PKR. Look at Johore, Sarawak, Penang, Perak and other states. Please do not put the blame on SAPP for your troubles.
“SAPP never says we go it alone. It was PPPS’s Lajim Okin, ASP’s Wilfred Bumburing and PKR’s Azmin Ali who said that PR had closed its door to SAPP. But SAPP still keeps its door wide open to let PKR have a straight fight with BN in most of the MP seats,” he said.
“Pakatan claims that their core principle is that seats which were won by a party at the previous election shall be re-contested by the same party. It is on this same principle that SAPP offers to stay out of Kota Kinabalu MP seat if Pakatan stays out of Luyang and Likas State seats. And therefore, Pakatan should not contest the Sepanggar MP seat (held by SAPP’s Datuk Eric Majimbun). As for the Tawau MP seat (held by SAPP’s Datuk Chua Soon Bui), the best formula is for SAPP to retain the MP seats while DAP goes back to their Sri Tanjong State seat. But, since Pakatan has to find a place for their Chin Foong Hin (DAP) and Datuk Kong Hon Ming (PKR), on top of keeping incumbent Jimmy Wong Sze Phin, Pakatan has declared to contest both the Tawau MP seat and Sri Tanjong state seat. This is the problem caused by Pakatan parties, especially DAP in Sabah.
“Even though PR has declared that it will go it alone in the coming general election, SAPP still maintains its promise to support Anwar to be the next PM when even PAS still keeps it option open for a PAS PM. Therefore, this truly shows SAPP is a party which keeps its promises when PR has broken the negotiations and promises. This example shows that SAPP is a party which can be trusted and it will certainly fulfill its pledges in its manifesto if it is given a chance to form the next state government,” he added.
According to Yong, SAPP fights for Sabah Autonomy because Sabah needs to reclaim its autonomy in order to guard its people and protect the natural resources. Autonomy will enable Sabah State Government to negotiate future dealings on equal footings with the Federal Government, and we can also control the influx of immigrants properly, allowing only qualified foreigners to settle in Sabah.
When Sabah regains its full autonomy and the terms and conditions within the Malaysian Agreement are truly implemented and honored, then the claim of Sabah by the Sulu Sultanate will be discouraged and abandoned eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment