STAR: PM Should Stop Lying and Fooling Sabahans

“The Prime Minister should stop lying and treating Sabahans as fools by making sweeping statements about Sabah’s rights without checking the facts.  To true Sabahans, the PM is making a fool of himself” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah in response to the PM’s statement that the rights of Sabahans are intact as reported in today’s papers.

Sabah’s rights downgraded to colony and 12th State

“How can the PM say that Sabah’s rights have not been taken away when it is very clear that from its position as an equal partner with Malaya in 1963, Sabah is now downgraded to become the 12th state and its Umno/BNstate leaders subservient to Umno/KL leaders”asked Dr. Jeffrey.

In fact, the maneuvering of the Umno/federal leaders have resulted in Sabah being made a de-facto colony of Malaya and the Umno/BN leaders treating Sabah as their “fixed deposit” and treating Sabahans with disrespect.  

Loss of political rights with reverse ethnic cleansing through PTIs

Sabahans have also lost their political franchise and rights when Umno maneuvered itself into Sabah and misguiding Usno to hand over power to their proxies and stooges.   Sabahans further lost their rights to determine their own future through the evil “Project IC” during Tun Mahathir’s reign which also resulted in illegal immigrants being given ICs and voting rights.

The reverse ethnic cleansing through these illegal immigrants have affected true Sabahans in every aspect and yet the federal government has been dragging their feet on the RCI.

To top it all, under Umno/BN’s rule, Sabah is now the poorest State in Malaysia which accounts for 40% of all poor in Malaysia.
                   
Loss of right to collect revenue

What is RM32 million for schools and RM132 million for infrastructures for Sabah when Sabah contributes about RM15 billion oil revenue annually to Petronas and for 2011 the federal government collected about RM22.7 billion in federal taxes and revenue from Sabah excluding other collections?   The immigration department alone collected about RM200 million from Sabah for 2011.

The federal government has taken away the right of the Sabah State to collect these revenues when Point 11 of the 20-Points was not implemented.   Point 11 reads:-
    “Sabah (North Borneo) should have control of its own finance, development funds and tariffs.”

The revenue from Sabah’s oil and gas has been unfairly taken from Sabah when the PM’s own father in 1975 signed the vesting order and granting and vesting the ownership of Sabah’s oil and gas resources to Petronas.
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If the PM means what he says, he should immediately rescind the vesting order and hand back Sabah’s oil and gas resources to Sabah.

Since 1975, Sabah’s oil revenue has been channeled to Malaya via Petronas to develop the Malayan states at the expense and detriment of Sabah.   Recently, this was acknowledged by the PM himself in Sarawak that for 49 years, Sabah and Sarawak had contributed their revenues towards the development of Malaya.

Borneonisation and usurping roles of federal agencies

It was agreed at the outset of the formation of Malaysia in 1963 that borneonisation of the Sabah civil service will take place immediately.   After 49 years, it is clear that the federal government is the replacement colonial master and taken over almost all the key positions in the federal civil service in Sabah.

The problem is compounded by the duplicating roles of federal agencies in Sabah to the extent of usurping the roles of Sabah agencies.  These federal agencies have even deemed it appropriate to import their staff, even junior staff, from Malaya and marginalized the local Sabahans.   It is all part of a devious scheme to control and make Sabah a colony of Malaya and Umno.

Manipulations by Mahathir and federal government

From 1965 when Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia, the federal government through their various schemes manipulated the situation to secure a 75% control of the federal Parliament when it was agreed in 1963 that Malaya would not have more than 65% of the parliamentary seats as a constitutional safeguard for Sabah and Sarawak.

History has now shown the testimony of the Umno federal government in making Sabah now the 12th State and a subservient state/colony of Malaya.  Even during Usno early days, Umno had sent their adviser and it cannot be said that what Usno did was purely of their own doing.

During Berjaya’s tenure, Sabah lost Labuan and its oil revenue.   The then Chief Minister seemed more interested in trying to please the federal government so as to achieve the political ambition of overthrowing Tun Mustapha.

During the PBS-era, Tun Mahathir showed his dictatorial side in sidelining the PBS government which was democratically elected by the people and even stopped Tan Sri Pairin from being sworn in as the legitimate Chief Minister.   Mahathir also induced the jumping of PBS elected representatives and causing the downfall of the PBS government and used his dictatorial powers to put his opponents in jail under the draconian ISA.

The rotation system of the Chief Minister was then introduced against the Sabah Constitution to induce and later trap the other BN leaders while at the same time gerry-mandering the electoral boundaries to create additional seats for Umno and making it the single largest component with 32 out of 60 seats.   With the Project IC then at its height, the takeover of Sabah by the federal Umno  government was complete.  

Why is the PM turning a blind eye to these testimonies of loss of Sabah’s rights?

Loss of freedom of religion

Freedom of religion was guaranteed by Point No. 1 of the 20-Points as well as the BatuSumpah (Oath Stone) in Keningau.

The fact that Sabahans today no longer enjoy the freedom of religion clearly suggests that they have been robbed of this right.

In addition, there is a steady creeping in of the “KetuananMelayu” policy where new imported Malays are accorded better rights than the original indigenous natives, many of whom are Muslims.

Similar development not true

If the PM is correct that the federal government has given more than due to Sabah and that Sabah received development and progress similar to their counterparts in Malaya, surely Sabah will be one of the richest State in Malaysia, if not the richest. 

If the PM had only opened his eyes to his surroundings when officiating the bridge at Padang Pagansakan and the Native Court Training Institute building in Penampang, he would notice that the development of the surrounding areas including the road, bridges and other infrastructure are not on par with the Malayan states.   And that is only 10 miles from Kota Kinabalu city centre.   He should then imagine how much below par is the development status in the other areas especially in the interiors like far-flung Pensiangan village.  
Better still, on his next visit which is expected very soon with the growing support for the opposition and the general elections just around the corner, he should travel by road instead of helicopter to see for the status of the development in Sabah.

Malaysia is not 55

By insisting that Malaysia is 55 years old now and not 49, the Federal Government is propagating theworst lie to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

What is motive of the Umno federal government in manipulating the facts of history?

PM should restore Sabah’s rights and not lie anymore

The PM should learn how to view Malaysia and the federal government from the perspective of Sabahans and not just a top view as an Umno leader with a Malayan Agenda.

Sabah has lost a lost since agreeing to form Malaysia in 1963 and suffered a great deal due to the manipulations and policies of the Umno federal government in the name of national integration and the federal government of Malaya in the guise of the federal government of Malaysia.

There was never a true and genuine partnership for Sabah in Malaysia.   The federal government has disrespected the Malaysia Agreement, 1963 and the autonomy and rights of Sabah.   After 49 years of an unequal partnership and treatment, Sabahans are now clamouring for the restoration of their rights and autonomy.   The PM and the federal government should stop treating Sabahans as fools.

The 2012 Budget is nothing to shout about for Sabahans.   Sabahans deserve more than 1-Malaysia water tanks and BRIMs.

Time to Put Things Right

What the Prime Minister can and should do, if he truly wants to make a difference unlike the past PMs, is to restore the rights and autonomy of Sabah and the status of Sabah as an equal partner to Malaya and Sarawak and to treat Sabahans with respect and dignity.