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| Yong gestures to highlight the inclusion of Sabah/North Borneo in the Philippines maps; |
Any attempt to depart from the “letter and spirit” of the formation of Malaysia will only fortify and intensify the Sulu/Philippines claim on Sabah.
Issuing the terse warning was President of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Datuk Yong Teck Lee, while speaking at its second ‘Kopitiam Ceramah’ held in the vicinity of the Foh Sang shops here, on Saturday.
His speech mainly focused on the perennial issue of Sabah Claim which has recently cropped up following the bloody intrusion of Sabah by Filipino militants proclaiming themselves as the Royal Army of Sulu Sultanate, in Lahad Datu.
He reminded that within the Malaysia Agreement was the Article 8 (A) which talked about the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report between the governments of United Kingdom, Malaya, Singapura, and at that time North Borneo Sabah and Sarawak.
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| A sizable crowd turns up to listen to the talk on Saturday. |
That IGC Report contains the Cobbold Commission Report which in turn contains all the recommendations and the spirit of the ‘20 Points’.
“The gist of all these including various undertakings by the British Government and the Malayan Government at that time is that Sabah will be autonomous – a sovereign state within Malaysia. The basis of Malaysia is the Malaysia Agreement which also grants autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak.
“They (the Philippines and the Sulu Sultanate) claimed that Sabah is not part of Malaysia (based on the Malaysia Agreement). This has now been highlighted and that if Malaysia were to try to depart from the letter and spirit of the formation of Malaysia, then the Sulu Claim will come in,” he warned.
“Between the Sulu Claim i.e. that Sabah is no longer part of Malaysia or autonomy for Sabah, I think the choice for the Federal government is very obvious,” he added.
Noting that there are a lot of contradictions that need to be resolved by the federal government, Yong reiterated that the federal government will have no choice but to honour, recognise and respect full political autonomy for (to) Sabah.
“Because the other option will result in a strong claim from the Philippines and the Sulu Sultanate if they were perceived to be any departure from the Malaysia Agreement and the spirit of the formation of Malaysia.
“For instance, you cannot say our coastline is too wide therefore you cannot protect us, because security was the main guarantee given to Sabah for forming Malaysia. you cannot claim that our maritime area is too wide to guard when you are also extracting oil and gas from our maritime area,” he asserted.
While acknowledging that although legally-speaking the Philippines has no right to claim Sabah, Yong highlighted that politically and psychologically they have been keeping the issue alive all these years, by having all these maps that prominently showed Sabah as part of its sovereignty.
“Politically and psychologically, the Philippines are keeping the issue alive by telling the Filipinos that that there is this place called Sabah/North Borneo that they have a claim to,” he said, adding that “There is no mention of Malaysia in the map showing Sabah, only Sabah/North Borneo,” as he pointed at the maps put up at the talk.
The former Chief Minister of Sabah was also of the opinion that the invasion of Sabah by the Filipino militants is far from over, and may take the government a long time to deal with it.
“It’s not the end, it was only the ICU (intensive care unit) treatment. Now we have to go for rehabilitation and recovery, and that will take 20 years, don’t listen to Jimmy Wong (Sabah DAP Chief), who claimed that it can be solved within one day. No!,” he said.
Yong pointed out that what is happening now is a violent pushback of the Suluks which he believed will create a very hostile and angry population of easily more than 4 million Bangsa Moro across the border.
“Therefore I think there are long-term implications which I think will take twenty years to resolve,” he said.
He thus contended that the federal government was on the wrong track in dealing with the situation although with the establishment of Immigration, Customs,
Quarantine and Security (ICQS) inspection centre and more police stations in the east coast region of Sabah, which has always been plagued by long and porous coastlines.
“It looks like they are building a fortress for Sabah to prevent intruders but the perspective from the Philippines side is very different, where what we consider the sea as a barrier they consider as a bridge and they consider it homecoming when we consider it as an intrusion. This has not been addressed in anyway by the federal government.
“So, I think they are missing that point, where they are still talking about manpower, committees, term of reference, without tackling the key issues i.e. the mindset of generations of Filipinos who believe Sabah legitimately belonged to Sulu through the Philippines,” he said.
He attributed the wrong approach to the top politicians and civil servants in Kuala Lumpur who just don’t understand the mindset and the psychology of the people here, both the Sabahans as well as those from the neighbouring Philippines.
“This is partly the failure of the Sabah government for not putting the Federal government on the right track,” he said.
He thus stressed that what the government should do is to get the perspective right, and one of the pressing issues is concerning the land-grab by government-linked companies like Felda.
He cited for example, there’s little support for the Government among the villagers in and around Kg Tanduo during the intrusion because Felda has been grabbing lands from villagers.
“Felda have been very crude, at times, even rough with villagers. They even dug huge drain almost like the Palestine settlement type, to bar villagers from entering certain areas which are now claimed by Felda and that has made the people very angry.
“When the dust has settled, the anger among the local people there built up over the year will become more apparent. Now that the ICU stage is over, we are not on the right track. We must get to see the full picture,” he stressed.
He was also of the opinion that the beefing up of the security and its infrastructures, in the east coast of Sabah, may not necessary deters future intrusions.
“It’s like putting up iron grills or posting part time security guards in your house when the neighbourhood is already infested with socio-economic problems and you think that your security guards and iron grills can look after you? No!” he said.
Yong stressed that to properly and effectively resolve the issue there must be a serious regional effort to revive the now idled BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area) endeavour.
“That’s very important for a regional economic prosperity especially in the Southern Philippines, so that it would create a situation whereby most of the illegal immigrants will voluntarily return to their country of origin, just like what happened in China where a majority of the Chinese migrants in Hong Kong have returned to Shenzheng,” he explained.
Also present in the occasion were various SAPP senior leaders including its secretary-general Datuk Richard Yong, treasurer-general Dullie Marie, vice president Don Chin, wanita chief Melanie Chia, youth chief Edward Dagul, and Chong Pit Fah, its information chief.
“The gist of all these including various undertakings by the British Government and the Malayan Government at that time is that Sabah will be autonomous – a sovereign state within Malaysia. The basis of Malaysia is the Malaysia Agreement which also grants autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak.
“They (the Philippines and the Sulu Sultanate) claimed that Sabah is not part of Malaysia (based on the Malaysia Agreement). This has now been highlighted and that if Malaysia were to try to depart from the letter and spirit of the formation of Malaysia, then the Sulu Claim will come in,” he warned.
“Between the Sulu Claim i.e. that Sabah is no longer part of Malaysia or autonomy for Sabah, I think the choice for the Federal government is very obvious,” he added.
Noting that there are a lot of contradictions that need to be resolved by the federal government, Yong reiterated that the federal government will have no choice but to honour, recognise and respect full political autonomy for (to) Sabah.
“Because the other option will result in a strong claim from the Philippines and the Sulu Sultanate if they were perceived to be any departure from the Malaysia Agreement and the spirit of the formation of Malaysia.
|
| Yong gestures to highlight the inclusion of Sabah/North Borneo in the Philippines maps; |
While acknowledging that although legally-speaking the Philippines has no right to claim Sabah, Yong highlighted that politically and psychologically they have been keeping the issue alive all these years, by having all these maps that prominently showed Sabah as part of its sovereignty.
“Politically and psychologically, the Philippines are keeping the issue alive by telling the Filipinos that that there is this place called Sabah/North Borneo that they have a claim to,” he said, adding that “There is no mention of Malaysia in the map showing Sabah, only Sabah/North Borneo,” as he pointed at the maps put up at the talk.
The former Chief Minister of Sabah was also of the opinion that the invasion of Sabah by the Filipino militants is far from over, and may take the government a long time to deal with it.
“It’s not the end, it was only the ICU (intensive care unit) treatment. Now we have to go for rehabilitation and recovery, and that will take 20 years, don’t listen to Jimmy Wong (Sabah DAP Chief), who claimed that it can be solved within one day. No!,” he said.
Yong pointed out that what is happening now is a violent pushback of the Suluks which he believed will create a very hostile and angry population of easily more than 4 million Bangsa Moro across the border.
“Therefore I think there are long-term implications which I think will take twenty years to resolve,” he said.
He thus contended that the federal government was on the wrong track in dealing with the situation although with the establishment of Immigration, Customs,
Quarantine and Security (ICQS) inspection centre and more police stations in the east coast region of Sabah, which has always been plagued by long and porous coastlines.
“It looks like they are building a fortress for Sabah to prevent intruders but the perspective from the Philippines side is very different, where what we consider the sea as a barrier they consider as a bridge and they consider it homecoming when we consider it as an intrusion. This has not been addressed in anyway by the federal government.
“So, I think they are missing that point, where they are still talking about manpower, committees, term of reference, without tackling the key issues i.e. the mindset of generations of Filipinos who believe Sabah legitimately belonged to Sulu through the Philippines,” he said.
He attributed the wrong approach to the top politicians and civil servants in Kuala Lumpur who just don’t understand the mindset and the psychology of the people here, both the Sabahans as well as those from the neighbouring Philippines.
“This is partly the failure of the Sabah government for not putting the Federal government on the right track,” he said.
He thus stressed that what the government should do is to get the perspective right, and one of the pressing issues is concerning the land-grab by government-linked companies like Felda.
He cited for example, there’s little support for the Government among the villagers in and around Kg Tanduo during the intrusion because Felda has been grabbing lands from villagers.
“Felda have been very crude, at times, even rough with villagers. They even dug huge drain almost like the Palestine settlement type, to bar villagers from entering certain areas which are now claimed by Felda and that has made the people very angry.
“When the dust has settled, the anger among the local people there built up over the year will become more apparent. Now that the ICU stage is over, we are not on the right track. We must get to see the full picture,” he stressed.
He was also of the opinion that the beefing up of the security and its infrastructures, in the east coast of Sabah, may not necessary deters future intrusions.
“It’s like putting up iron grills or posting part time security guards in your house when the neighbourhood is already infested with socio-economic problems and you think that your security guards and iron grills can look after you? No!” he said.
Yong stressed that to properly and effectively resolve the issue there must be a serious regional effort to revive the now idled BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area) endeavour.
“That’s very important for a regional economic prosperity especially in the Southern Philippines, so that it would create a situation whereby most of the illegal immigrants will voluntarily return to their country of origin, just like what happened in China where a majority of the Chinese migrants in Hong Kong have returned to Shenzheng,” he explained.
Also present in the occasion were various SAPP senior leaders including its secretary-general Datuk Richard Yong, treasurer-general Dullie Marie, vice president Don Chin, wanita chief Melanie Chia, youth chief Edward Dagul, and Chong Pit Fah, its information chief.
WAS GUARANTEE OF SECURITY IN MALAYSIA A BIG LIE?
ReplyDeleteSULU INVASION CHALLENGES VALIDITY & LEGITIMACY OF MALAYSIA
The Sulu Invasion has challenged and raised many questions on the validity and legitimacy of Malaysia on the 50th year of its formation.
The UMNO Government's (delayed) response to the Sulu claim and current suppression of the Sulu armed men is been turned into a propaganda sandiwara to dramatise to the Sabah and also Sarawak people how remaining Malaysia is so important for them.
It has never been more clearly demonstrated than by the Sulu invasion that the “guarantee of security in Malaysia” has been a big lie to deceive the Bornean people that they have no choice but to choose becoming part of Malaysia. Malaysia was totally ineffective to protect Sabah from a small invasion and now the foreign threat has increased to 1000 MNLF as recently announced.
Once again the bogeyman of foreign invasion and a new justification that being part of Malaysia is immensely more preferable to the Philippines are being used as arguments against the Sulu claim and to impress on the restless Sabah (and Sarawak) people to make that choice.
However Sabahans and Sarawakians must realise that they still have another choice despite the claims by Malaya and the Philippines. This is their right to real self-determination recognised by the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
There are a number of questions and answers needing answers from by the UMNO Government :
QUESTION 1
Has not the UMNO government's main justifications for incorporation of Sabah and Sarawak as necessary components long since proven to be just false arguments?
The British UMNO justifications were that:
(a) the creation of an artificial Malaysia was a joint security arrangement to protect Sabah and Sarawak from foreign invasion and
(b) Sabah and Sarawak were necessary maintain a “racially balanced” country when Malaya merged with Singapore?
(c) The promise of economic prosperity.
The Sulu invasion exposes all these justifications have been a big lie and now the facts begin to fall into place on what UMNO has been doing for 50 years.
Many emerging facts prove that from the beginning UMNO set out to compromise its mythical security justification of Malaysia's existence by its social re-engineering project in smuggling illegals to create a vote bank and to create a Muslim Melayu Raya expressly excluded in the 18/20 Points Agreement. All this skulduggery with the UMNO sponsorship of the Southern Philippines insurgency are linked in some way to the Sulu invasion of Sabah. It was a time bomb waiting to ignite.
That Brunei had opted out of being in Malaysia and Singapore opting to get out Malaysia had completely demolished the “racial balance” justification by 1965.
So the question is “IF MALAYSIA IS NO LONGER JUSTIFIABLE, IS THERE ANY REASON FOR SABAH AND SARAWAK TO REMAIN IN MALAYSIA?”
DAP Lim Kit Siang, STAR, SAPP and some Sarawak opposition people have directly and indirectly raised the “security and prosperity” issue and questioned the purpose and relevance of Malaysia as it was originally intended.
The Sarawak PKR went overboard to avoid this issue by pathetically declaring their love for Sarawak but at the same time swore quisling allegiance to UMNO's creation Malaysia despite Malaya pillaging and impoverishing their country Sarawak.
The answer to UMNO's vice-like grip on Sabah and Sarawak rests on one basic premise that is to replace British colonialism as the new colonial masters.
cont'd next post:
NO REFERENDUM
ReplyDeleteMalaysia was formed without the full and informed consent of the Sabah Sarawak people in 1963.
This is seen in the deliberate British failure to carry out a proper U.N. supervised referendum and formation of Malaysia despite an ongoing Brunei and Sarawak anti-Malaysia armed resistance (from 1962 to 1990). They feared if a referendum were held the Borneo people would have rejected Malaysia.
The formation would have been better considered if Sabah and Sarawak were given time to be independent countries. Even the British colonial governors of Sabah and Sarawak protested that the people were not ready for Malaysia.
What would have been the better proposal would have been the Euro-style proposal to have a common economic region of independent countries with any security arrangements the countries might wish to enter into.
QUESTION 2
So why is Sabah in Malaysia before the Philippines claim was resolved? This issue has become a challenge the legitimacy of Malaysia which now confronts the UMNO government?
QUESTION 3
Did not the UMNO government responded to the Philippines claim by conducting a secret war over 45 years against the Philippines to de-stabilise the unity of that country by sponsoring and training in Sabah Filipino insurgent groups such as the MNLF, MILF, Abu Sayyaf, Sulu groups and the BSRA ? Admitted by ex-P.M.Mahathir and confirmed by MNLF leader Nur Misuari on the same Al Jazeera TV broadcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbjsw-iQ6wI
http://borneoherald.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/malaysia-facing-policy-blowback.html
QUESTION 4
Was the harbouring of foreign armed insurgents in Sabah a secondary plan by the UMNO government to use as back up force in the event that the Sarawak independence armed struggle had spread to Sabah in the 1970s?
QUESTION 5
Why did the UMNO government under P.M. Mahathir suspend aerial surveillance of Sabah's east coast in 1995?
QUESTION 6
Was this not connected with P.M. Mahathir and UMNO government's hiring of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist gang in 1995 to smuggle 1 million Filipino Muslims into Sabah top rig the vote with these illegal “instant voters” in “Projek IC” to oust PBS?
UMNO consciously and deliberately opened up Sabah's sea borders was part of its overall agenda for the purpose of maintaining their domination of Sabah politics and control of the people with population engineering (like the Nazis and Israelis) to implement its Melayu Raya colonialist religious apartheid agenda.
QUESTION 7
Did not the Libyan government gave US$100 million to the Mahathir government to pay Abu Sayyaf.
QUESTION 8
Did not Mahathir delay payment and the Abu Sayyaf gang kidnapped tourists in Sabah to demand a ransom (as a cover up) and got paid only RM$30 million and where is the balance of the money?
cont'd next post
QUESTION 6A
DeleteWHO WERE BEHIND THE SABAH "RIOTS" IN 1985?
(SEE THE FILM "SILENT RIOT")
Mahathir was in a out of Sabah in 1985 and his hidden hand can be seen in retrospect stirring up the "rent a crowd" Filipino riots with Mustapha.
That was how important it was and is for Malaya to hang on to Sabah.
QUESTION 9
ReplyDeleteDid not PM Najib as Defence Minister publicly acknowledged in 2008 that there was a threat posed by the Sulus.
A military reporter Lam Choon Wah had raised the alarm of a threat to Sabah security when he interviewed then Deputy P.M. Najib in 2008 and this was his recently updated report:
“During a media briefing session on 10 August 2008, the forward base senior military officer Commander Hanafi, who was the Markas Angkatan Tugas Bersama 2 (MATB 2) Chief of Staff, told the media that there were six external security threats scattered offshore Sabah, namely Abu Sayyaf, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front, Misuari Breakaway Group, ransom-seeking criminal groups and Bangsa Sulu Royal Army (BSRA).
I knew of the mentioned external threats except for the BSRA. My instinct told me it must be a new threat. After the Commander completed his briefing, I posted a question to the Commander of MATB 2, Brig Gen Datuk Sheikh Mokhsin Sheikh Hassan.
He answered that the descendants of Sulu Sultan were recruiting Sabah’s Sulu people into the BSRA and it was depicted as a security threat to Malaysia.
When asked why no action had been taken, he said that the armed forces hadn’t taken any action against them because they were just a small group of people, adding that PDRM was monitoring their activities.
“For the time being, they were just ‘touring’ in Sabah, not yet posing any substantial security threats.”
I wasn’t satisfied with his answer. How could the authority not take any action when they know that foreigners were raising army in our territory?
Najib arrived on the following day, and I managed to get comment from him at a press conference.
He commented and confirmed that “the authority is investigating the possibility of the descendants of Sulu Sultan inciting Sabah’s Sulu people to join BSRA”, but refused to give further details.
At the time, I had predicted that the BSRA would be a time bomb for Sabah in which its repercussion might not be small at all.”
QUESTION 10
If the UMNO government had all this prior knowledge why did they still failed to “beef up” their security especially sea borders surveillance?
Did they trust their Filipino brothers that much to even knowingly allow them to do “touring” around Sabah without raising any eyebrows in the defence circle?
QUESTION 11
Have the Malayan police been destroying illegal ID cards as C.M. Musa Aman said?
Musa must have good evidence to the destruction of ID cards. The question is why?
EVERY Mykad given illegally to the 5 million plus in the 3 countries of Malaysia is itself a serious crime and destruction of evidence of UMNO's crime in given these ID cards is even more serious! See Point 6 above.
One is in two minds about the police effort. Real Sabahans will heartily agreed that the 800,000 and 5 million more illegal cards should be torn up....
This is a good idea but should only be done after all the legal status of the holders of suspect cards have been vetted (and this could be narrow down quickly on the computer of they kept good records- who knows?) . When this process begins all the vetting should be done in conjunction with the “repatriation” to the Philippines and Indonesia.
QUESTION 12
So why are we all sitting back and watching the events but not asking more questions and demanding answers?
DeleteYes sirr you got strong points in here..
Where is Sabah security now?
It lies in the hand of a future UN Security Council? I don't think so. It is in the hands of Sabahans themselves. They determine their future and if they insist, sooner or later the the UN and international comuntiy will support Sabah's Plan.
Being in Malaysia Federation for 48 years has been a nightmare for Sabahans !
ReplyDeleteTime to get out of this shackles Datuk Yong.. Lead us lah
DeleteSaya setuju pandangan Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee.. Oranhg Sabah mestilah cari jalan bebaskan diri dari cengkaman penjajah baru ini.
SABAH SECURITY "UP THE CREEK"- CALL FOR INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM
ReplyDeleteThe MNLF announcement that another 1000 MNLF men have "slipped" into Sabah has further reinforce local anger that UMNO is incapable of defending Sabah from foreign invasion. This has only serve to increase feelings of insecurity.
1. Numerically, the 1,000 MNLF militia plus those who came first will form a formidable fighting force against the Malayan occupation army which were air freighted to Sabah by Air Asia on short notice.
2. The battle hardened MNLF who may have trained in Sabah and are familiar with the terrain will run rings around the Malayan forces. It is rumoured that they have a large arms cache in wilds of Sabah. If they break up into small groups and spread out in the country, the cost of combating them will been enormous and Sabah will end up paying the bill.
3. The escalation of the war will mean that Malaya will have to pour in at least 150,000 troops to confront the 1,000 guerilla force. This is based on the counter insurgency ratio of 15:1 of security forces to guerrilla force. That is it takes 15 soldiers to fight 1 armed guerrilla. Sabah will become an armed camp and Malaya's Vietnam. One could cynically say that UMNOcrats will make money from “body bags”. During the RASCOM emergency in Sarawak the Malayans had to station an army of 50,000 men against 100 guerillas.
4. There are around 2.5 million (?) illegals who may give support to the MNLF a ready made grass support CREATED by UMNO population engineering in Sabah! This has happened already at Lahad Datu. This is why the ESSCOM zone was so quickly declared. Many Sulus will be concentrated into new villages called “new housing” for them.
5. This is likely a proxy war between the Philippines and Malaya over Sabah territory started in the 1960s. Why is the Philippines government not stopping the MNLF form invading Sabah?
At the beginning Malayan UMNO had the initiative of sponsoring the Southern Philippines insurgency to counter the Sabah claim. But now this has been turned around as the insurgents trained by UMNO in Pankor Island and Sabah, turn their guns on UMNO's forces
6. Against this scenario SAPP leaders seem to argue that full autonomy would stave off the Filipino claim. There may be some logic to this. But Malaysia has completely failed Sabah and there was no border security at all.
But this is not an end all solution. The Sabah people do have an alternative choice instead of having to continue living in the nightmare of Malaysia. They still have a right to self-determination through an independence referendum for Sabah independence.
Scotland is holding an independence referendum in 2014 after 500 years of English domination. The UK Parliament had to agree with this referendum to appear fair and democratic.
However, Malaya will never give up Sabah and control its vast resources as with Sarawak. Najib and his UMNO members have declared that Sabah is forever part of Malaysia. Even the British and Soviet empires have collapsed.
For Sabah and Sarawak to break off this colonial rule it means taking up armed resistance like East Timor, Southern Sudan.(There was armed resistance against Malaysia in Sarawak from 1962 to 1990). This is not the best solution.
A UN supervised independence referendum is the next best option. If the people chose independence from Malayan rule, the world will have to respect the people's decision and not interfere in any manner in Sabah internal affairs. This will determine both the Malayan and Filipino claim on Sabah.
Sabahans and Sarawakian should put on their Borneo Agenda the option to call for a UN supervised referendum.
A referendum may be 50 years late but this is most preferred way to determine Sabah's destiny and to peacefully end Malaya's de facto military occupation of Sabah and Sarawak.
BTW ASK MAHATHIR TO LEAD THE NEW COUNTER-INSURGENCY WAR IN SABAH!
ReplyDeleteYup,let him be the b'general,his sons too;so he can personally feel the evil,that he has perpetrated through the wickedness of dubious mhtr cards.
DeleteThey should show leadership by going on sorties in the bush.
ReplyDeleteMahathir and sons will have to undergo commando training.
No need to undergo cmndo trining bah they are 'extra intelligent' above every human being ever created. Lagi pun ada jimat ba. he,ha,he,adui.
Deletehow can u take down the giant evil bn/umno if u all(opposition party) dont want to unite as one???? GREED!!!! sabah doomed forever
ReplyDeleteIf Sabah is doomed,it is the fault namely of Pbs for their lies in the 1985 election,thus its off-shoot, upko,pbrs,ldp & the Sabahan voters if they continue to walk in their blindness...at least sapp realizes its mistake. Now SAPP & STAR are working hand in hand to overthrow BN's parties. PKR/DAP/PAS would lose in Sabah.The best thing for PKR/DAP/PAS is to wake up in their sleep walking,pull up their socks,put on their shoes & work to fight hand & gloves with BN/UMNO in Malaya & they would win there easily.Of course SAPP/USNO/STAR shall win in Sabah.
Delete