Star will work with ‘any’ coalition that wins

By Luke Rintod of FMT

Jeffrey Kitingan has threatened legal action against those
spreading rumours that his party Star is being financed
by Umno to split the opposition vote.

KOTA KINABALU: If politicians and supporters are holding out for a pre-election pact between the State Reform Party (Star) and the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), they best forget it.

Both parties’ words and actions point to it being a lost cause. But leaders on either side are nonetheless keeping alive the ‘line’ that they are working on a deal which opposition supporters in the state and are hopeful of hammering it out in time.

They have been maneuvering for this since the beginning of the year and if nothing else, their periodic shout outs for a deal has proved they are no closer to it since they first indicated they wanted one.

Bankrupts are not allowed to vote?

It appears that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has finally woken up to some of the economic ills facing the man on the street by announcing significant changes in bankruptcy laws. But it maybe too little too late. An entire generation may actually have lost out due again to the Barisan Nasional not having their eyes and ears on the ground.

1997 appears to have been yet another watershed year where Malaysia’s cyclical economic downturn affected its economy adversely. That year then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad placed the blame exclusively on currency speculators.

MONKEY BUSINESS

 

Once upon a time a man appeared in a village
and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for RM10 each.

Sabah-based parties know Sabah issues better

By Chong Tet Loi
Two-party system is not that fashionable in the world. The number of nations that adhere to it is getting smaller. Even our former colonial suzerain, Britain, which used to have a two-party system for a good long time, now admits a third force in their political interplay

THE need to elaborate further and clarify John Lo’s “Two-party System Will Give Sabah More Muscle” (forum 16.9.12) compels me to continue this lengthy political exchange.

On Sabah’s ‘racism’

Erna Mahyuni,
The Malaysian Insider

Source

There are areas in Kota Kinabalu that are “black areas” controlled by illegals, where locals fear to tread. Even our local law enforcement is forced to turn a blind eye. Some due to lack of manpower, some because they’re paid off by the illegals. Many Sabahans are afraid of illegals. They have good cause to be. My neighbourhood doctor was killed with parangs by Indonesians. Two-thirds of the women I know, including myself, have been molested by illegals.

“So it strikes me to ask, is Sabah as racism-free as it seems?” That’s what a LoyarBurok columnist asked, after a (brief) visit to Sabah and noting the distaste many locals have towards illegal immigrants.

The first problem I have is with the notion of Sabah being “racism-free.” No place in the world is free from racism, unless said place is filled with people of the same race. Even then, we human beings will find other reasons to oppress our fellows. Because we can.

STAR eyeing across political divide for candidates

In the coming general election, Jeffrey Kitingan's
party is trying to woo BN candidates dropped
by the ruling coalition.

The State Reform Party (STAR), according to the political grapevine, is scouring both sides of the political divide for candidates and partners. The United Borneo Front (UBF), an ad hoc NGO, and the pro tem United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) have already confirmed that they would be jointly fielding candidates in all 60 state seats in Sabah and 26 parliamentary seats including Labuan under the STAR symbol.

STAR is a Borneo-based national party based in Kuching. It may have candidates in Peninsular Malaysia as well if Hindraf Makkal Sakthi, pledged towards a third force in Parliament, uses its symbol and flag as well.

Hydro Tasmania will quit Sarawak

An aggressive campaign mounted jointly by Sarawak coalition
of NGOs Save Rivers, Bruno Manser Fund and the Australian
Greens Party in Australia sees a victorious end.

KUCHING: Controversial Australian government-owned company Hydro Tasmania, which Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) had once described as an “essential partner” in the state’s plan to build multiple dams, will withdraw from Sarawak by the end of 2013, leaving Chief Minister Taib Mahmud with a “big headache”.

Hydro Tasmania’s involvement in the RM3 billion Murum Dam project has been at the receiving end of incessant campaigning by local native NGOs and Australians, and it has succumbed to public pressure on Monday and announced it is phasing out.

Hydro Tasmania CEO Roy Adair told Sarawak campaigners Peter Kallang and James Nyurang from Save Rivers, a coalition of Sarawak NGOs, and Peter John Jaban from Radio Free Sarawak that “Hydro Tasmania will leave Sarawak by the end of 2013″.

SAPP buoyant about pact with Pakatan

SAPP and Jeffrey Kitingan-led STAR are expected to
discuss 'anytime now' on how they can cooperate
and put up one-to-one fights with BN.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee is optimistic about the ongoing negotiations on seat distribution and election preparations between his party and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Yong said talks to work out a deal with local opposition parties that are not under Pakatan’s umbrella grouping had picked up momentum over the past month as general election looms.

He said he welcomed recent statements by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and deputy president Azmin Ali, which “clearly indicated that they had agreed with SAPP including the principle of burden sharing” (of difficult seats) in the 13th general election”.

NGOs to take up Sabah’s ‘lost’ cause

By Calvin Kabaron

A Sabah activist believes it is 'high time'
that focus be given to the 'impossibly
poor' of Sabah and Sarawak.

KOTA KINABALU: Several non-governmental organisations, both national and local, are expected to lodge separate reports on “depressing” human rights issues affecting the people in East Malaysia.

According to the president of newly-founded UK-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia (BoPi MaFo), Daniel John Jambun, several NGOs and human rights activists are already in contact with the United Nation’s Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva over human rights issues in Sabah and Sarawak.

“While in London recently, I was made to understand that Suaram is also making a representation to UNCHR in Geneva, Switzerland, on human right issues in Sabah and Sarawak,” he told FMT here.

He however declined to name the other groups that he said are also making representations to the UN, adding that it should be known in due time.

Jeffrey wants ‘Homeland Security’ for Sabah

The state government should set up its own Homeland Security
Division to fill in for the shortcomings of the federal
agencies in protecting the people in Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: Police in Sabah are coming under increasing pressure to send a message to residents that their state is not going to be overrun by what is perceived to be the seedier elements of legal and illegal immigrants flooding the state.

The latest to rap the performance of the the police force over growing fears that crime has spiralled out of control in the state over the years is the Sabah chapter of the State Reform Party or STAR Sabah.

The opposition party which is gaining rapid grassroots support around the state has suggested that the state government should set up its own Homeland Security Division to fill in for the shortcomings of the federal agencies in protecting the people in Sabah.