Dr. Jeffrey supports Harris’ Concerns on Labuan

KOTA KINABALU - “While many still feel that Harris Salleh was wrong to handover Labuan island to the Federal government in 1984, his call for Labuan to be returned if the Federal government is not capable of looking after Labuan or refuse to give the people of Labuan what they deserve is a timely call and should be supported not only by the people in Labuan but by all Malaysians in Sabah and the Sabah government,” urged Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, State Assemblyman for Bingkor, in response to Harris’ call for the Federal government to stop punishing Labuan or to return Labuan to Sabah.

The Sabah government should initiate efforts to immediately administer Labuan jointly with the Federal government and at the same time arrange for Labuan to be handed back to Sabah.

“Whatever the excuses, there is no reason for the Federal government to withdraw the duty-free status of Labuan and restrict it to 10 or 18 outlets or to punish the people of Labuan by making them provide deposits when sending their vehicles to mainland Sabah with effect from 1st November 2016” stressed Dr. Jeffrey.

Postponing the “withdrawal” of the duty-free status temporarily is not the solution and only a revocation of the proposal is acceptable.

As it is, the Labuan people are being punished by the refusal of the Federal government to build the Labuan Bridge which was promised by the Umno-led BN government during the PRU-13 elections.

To rub salt in the wound, soon after the PRU-13 elections, BN Ministers and MPs tried to justify and deny the promise to build the Labuan Bridge and lied by saying that the election promise was only to study the feasibility of building it and not a promise to build.

Before this, Labuan was again side-lined when Petronas built the refinery and petrochemical integrated development project (RAPID) and other associated facilities in Pengerang, Southern Johor, called Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) costing more than RM5 billion.

Again, there was no basis for the RAPID or PIPC project to be located in Johor which was not an oil-producing State when Labuan was next to the various on-going oil production facilities in Sabah.

It is becoming obvious that the Federal government do not have Labuan and its people at heart despite the long-standing support for the Umno there.

The Sabah government and Sabahans should not think that the restriction of the duty-free status in Labuan will only affect Labuan and have no effect on Sabah and Sabahans.

Labuan is already suffering and reeling from the effect of the collapse in world oil prices which currently stands at about USD43 compared to more than USD110 per barrel two (2) years ago.  It has also affected the economy of Sabah, directly and indirectly.   Any further drop in Labuan’s economy due to the restrictions on the duty-free status will further impact the Sabah economy negatively.

The ball is now in the Sabah government’s feet to take the appropriate action to immediately administer Labuan jointly with the Federal government and to regain Labuan on a permanent basis.

• Harris: Stop punishing Labuan