Kota Kinabalu: “The federal and Sabah governments are trampling the Sabah Constitution and not honouring native rights and privileges by wrongly enforcing bumiputra policies in Sabah” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to announcements by the DPM and Chief Minister on Sabah bumiputra empowerment.
Not all bumiputra are natives although all natives are necessarily bumiputra. Similarly, not all Malays are natives. However, non-Muslim bumiputra in Sabah lose everything when the governments divide the Sabah and Sarawak bumiputra into “bumiputra Islam” and “bumiputra bukan Islam” and the former get better treatment and privileges compared to the latter.