KOTA KINABALU, DEC 1, 2014: Sabah State Reform Party
(STAR) leader Jeffrey Kitingan has asked Prime Minister Najib Razak to engage
the nationalists and activists on their grievances and injustices against the
people of Sabah and Sarawak.
"If the federal government had any decency and treat
Sabahans as equal Malaysians, the proper course would have been to engage the
nationalists and activists and address not their grievances but the grievances
and injustices against the people in Sabah and Sarawak," he said in a
statement.
Jeffrey (picture, left) reiterated his stand that Sabah and Sarawak
nationalists and activists are not seeking secession but restoration of the
legitimate rights, privileges and autonomy of the Borneo States that were taken
away or eroded since 1963.
"These nationalists and activists are not seeking
for additional rights or taking away any rights from Malaya or others. The
seeking of Sabah and Sarawak rights is not different from the claim for Malay
rights in the Peninsula," he said.
"Worse still are the ultra-malays, extremists and
racial bigots that are seeking to seize and trample the legitimate rights of
others and even to the extent of Umno leaders chasing out Malaysians to leave
the federation.
"If this option is now given by the federal
government, probably a majority of Sabahans and Sarawakians would opt to leave
Malaysia.
"There is no necessity to threaten and intimidate
Sabahans so as to control Sabahans to ensure Umno/Malaya’s dominance and
colonization over Sabah.
He said:"If the federal government and the Home
Minister wish to arrest anyone connected with Sabah issues, they should start
arresting the traitors and culprits behind the issuance of dubious ICs and
MyKads to illegal immigrants, which is still on-going, and the insertion of
illegals as voters in the electoral rolls.
"The Prime Minister and Home Minister should be
aware that the continued threats against the rights of the Borneo States will
not dampen the voices and spirit of the people in Sabah and Sarawak.
"Any further harassment and continued ignoring of
the rights of the Borneo States will only make their voices grow louder,"
he added.
Jeffrey also urged Sabahans and Sarawakians to unite and
stand up for their rights.
"This is the most important message and lesson for
Sabahans and Sarawakians to be learnt from the Prime Minister Naib Razak’s move
to retain and fortify the Sedition Act against nationalists and activists of
Sabah and Sarawak rights as well from the outcome of the Umno General Assembly,"
he said.
He said that it may be a bitter pill to swallow for the
leaders and grassroots of Umno Sabah and other BN components from Sabah and
Sarawak but the reality has been laid bare at the General Assembly that Umno and
the Prime Minister cannot be relied upon to safeguard Sabah and Sarawak rights.
"Sadly for Sabah and Sarawak, Najib has failed
miserably to demonstrate true leadership and failed to show that he is the
Prime Minister for all Malaysians, particularly for Sabahans and Sarawakians,
and making a mockery of his own “1-Malaysia” slogan.
"To add salt to injury, there were open calls for “1-Melayu”
to replace 1-Malaysia," Jeffrey said.
He said the retention of the Sedition Act after a
grandiose announcement to the world in 2012 that it would be repealed is more
than a long line of his flip-flop policies and loss of his waning credibility.
"It is more than a simple broken promise for
Sabahans and Sarawakians clamouring for a better Malaysia with fair and
equitable treatment for them with the restoration of their State rights as promised
in the formation of Malaysia.
"The manner of its announcement is sheer arrogance
of the highest order and a clear-cut abuse of power taking Malaysia back to the
colonial-era of dictatorial control over Malaysians particularly Sabahans and
Sarawakians.
"Even the British who started the sedition laws know
better and the Sedition Act has been abolished in the United Kingdom where
sedition is no longer a criminal offence.
"Whatever the views and decisions of the Prime
Minister and his Cabinet or the Umno general assembly, it is a clear and
undisputed fact of history that Sabah (North Borneo then), Sarawak and
Singapore (which left in 1965) formed Malaysia as a new nation on 16 September
1963.
"Sabah and Sarawak never joined the Federation of
Malaya and neither did they form Malaysia to be made the 12th and 13th States.
"But the Federal government did turn Sabah and
Sarawak into the 12th and 13th States by an amendment to the Federal
Constitution on 27 August 1976 during the Harris Salleh-led Berjaya era.
"Right from the first discussion between the British
government and the Prime Minister of Malaya and his entourage of Ministers in
November 1961, it was to be the formation of the Federation of Malaysia
comprising 5 territories (later reduced to 4 when Brunei declined the
merger)," he said.
Jeffrey asked Najib:"What is so wrong
with seeking the truth and for a review of the Malaysia Agreement and the basis
of the formation of Malaysia with the restoration of the rights of Sabah and
Sarawak as equal partners to the Federation of Malaya?
"What is so wrong with seeking the return of Sabah’s
oil and gas resources wrongly vested in Petronas by Abdul Razak on 26 March
1975 and the fair and equitable treatment and development of Sabah that were
promised in 1963? asked Jeffrey.
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