“Support the Sultan of Johor, Uphold State Rights – Dr. Jeffrey”

KOTA KINABALU - “It was a timely and important wake-up call and reminder to the federal leaders that Malaysia is a federation and not a unitary state and that the rights of member States like Johor are equally important in the federation” said Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, commenting on HRH The Sultan of Johor’s royal order that the Johor government look into filing an appeal against the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decision six years ago to award Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.

Regardless of the appeal process and the issue of locus standi and the appropriate party to the ICJ proceedings and appeal, HRH clearly stated the obvious – that Johor should have been consulted.

Although the Federation of Malaya was formed in 1957 and subsequently replaced with the Federation of Malaysia.  However, the under-currents and federal government manipulations are surely and steadily turning Malaysia from a two-tier federation into a unitary state.

Just as Malaysia belonged to all Malaysians and Sabah belonged to the Sabahans, Johor belonged to the Johor Sultanate.

However, the behaviour and actions of the federal government and its leaders appear to be to the contrary.   To them, it is as though Johor like Sabah belonged to Malaysia and the federal government and that the federal government is supreme to the member States who are subservient.
Nothing is further from the truth.

In a federation, it is the member States that should be treated as equal partners and not as subservient states.   For without the member States, there would be no federation.

Without Sabah or Johor, there would be no Malaysia in existence.

The federal government and its leaders should re-assess their take on the Federation of Malaysia and re-evaluate federal-state relations so that Malaysia is able to continue to exist as a true federation and not be turned into a unitary state.   More so, in the case of Sabah and Sarawak who are key partners with Malaya in the Federation of Malaysia.

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