Appreciate My Statement in The Right Context – Dr. Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu:“UPKO leaders ought to have appreciated my statement in the correct context instead of being ultra-defensive and rushing and resorting to personal attacks seemingly and as though to defend their guilt” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief in response to the personal unjustifiable accusations over his query on Upko’s relevance in BN.

The people would still remember that it was Parti Demokratik Sabah (now Upko) that acted in cahoots with Umno/Kuala Lumpur’s divide and rule policy that resulted in dividing the unity of Sabahans and caused the break-up of Sabahan unity under PBS and the downfall of the democratically elected PBS government. 

Upko in further rushing to join the CM-rotation system, further divided the Sabahans by resorting to be a racial and racist party, something alien in multi-racial Sabah.   Like other Sabah BN parties, they fell for the CM-rotation system hook, line and sinker and ended up carrying out the divide and rule policy of Umno/Kuala Lumpur in Sabah.

This led to the subsequent abolishment of the CM-rotation system and entrenchment of Umno in Sabah.Like they say, the rest is history and today Sabahans are suffering and paying for this move.

The powerless roles of Upko and other BN components cannot be more succinctly said that the recent disclosure by the immediate past president of MCA, the second biggest party in the Barisan, that there is no sincere power-sharing in the BN.

In the 13th General Election, Upko being a KDM-based party, was emphatically thrown out in its Kadazan/KDM heartland in Penampang and Moyog, by political novices in comparison to Upko’s heavyweights.    The results could be interpreted to mean that the party did not do the right things for the KDM community and failed to defend and look after the interests of Sabah and Sabahans resulting in the desertion of the people’s support and consequential losses.

Upko should have learnt from the 13th GE results and its ineffectiveness in BN and adopted a more assertive position in the BN given the kingmaker roles of Sabah and Sarawak in helping retain BN in power as the federal government.

"UPKO and other Sabah BN parties can do more if they can work together and leverage their presence instead of being used as a pawn and falling victim of UMNO/Kuala Lumpur's divide-and-rule."   “That's all I am saying” said Dr. Jeffrey.

If Upko had been effective in the KDM community, it would have produced more golden sons of the kadazans not more mere followers and stooges of Umno/Kuala Lumpur.

As for the RCI, the initial mis-steps in its terms of reference and its set-up and announcements have made many people wary.    The unsurprising revelations at the RCI hearings have proven the people’s concerns. In which direction the RCI will lead to or whether it is a political gimmick in the run-up to the 13th GE, it is too early to tell or to claim credit.

"As for me, my struggle since my activist days in the 1980s is and has always been for Sabah and Sabahans rights not for any single community or race” said Dr. Jeffrey.

Political analysts have concluded that there has been a significant rise in the awareness of the formation of Malaysia and Sabah rights nationalism and patriotism as well as a clamouring of better treatment of Sabah by the federal government and the return of Sabah as an equal partner of nation-hood status in Malaysia.

"Whether I have contributed to this significant rise or whether I achieve anything is not for me to say. I leave it to history to judge my contribution to Sabah and to humanity...but one thing is clear I am not a stooge of anybody” added Dr. Jeffrey.