PBS welcomes PM’s assurance on MA63

PAPAR: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) says there is little to be gained by getting emotional and adopting an aggressive and confrontational approach towards the Federal Government over restoring lost autonomy and state rights as agreed when Malaysia was formed.

“A matter of such importance cannot be rushed through merely for convenience. The Prime Minister has declared that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) will be honoured. PBS finds that positive and reassuring,” the party’s Secretary General, Datuk Johnny Mositun said after making a personal donation of 50 chairs and a PA system to St Anthony’s Chapel, Kampung Bolitikon in Papar.

Mositun said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had also personally assured PBS leaders and members of this at the party’s recent congress at the Hongkod Koisaan and said that consultations on the matter were going on between Putrajaya and the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak.

“The opposition’s claims that nothing is being done are not true. Both the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak are in talks with the National Committee set up by the Federal Government for this purpose,” Mositun said.

He said the opposition knew that the matter was a complex one and would necessarily take some time to resolve.

“Yes. They know all that, but because the general election is near they want to take mileage from it and accuse the Barisan Nasional government of doing nothing,” he said.

Mositun said that unlike all his predecessors, Najib was the only Prime Minister to acknowledge the legitimacy of the grievances expressed by the people of Sabah and Sarawak regarding the erosion of their autonomy and state powers.

“That in itself is a big step forward. Without that acknowledgement there would have been nothing to discuss. But now that hurdle has been cleared, and talks have begun at the official level. That is progress, but the opposition refuses to acknowIedge it and continues to go around lying to the people that nothing is being done about it,” he said.

Mositun said as a Deputy Speaker of the Sabah State Assembly, he had come to understand and appreciate the complexities of the matter and the need to address it through legal and constitutional means instead of political confrontation, and the need to avoid premature rumours and speculation that could agitate the rakyat.

“This concerns the very structure of the Malaysian Federal set-up, every aspect of government administration, procedures, finances, taxation, revenue sharing, territorial jurisdiction and resources among other things at both state and federal level so that if and when changes take place it happens smoothly with least inconvenience to the rakyat,” Mositun said.

The PBS Secretary General also told those present not to be unduly upset or distracted by people capitalizing on the issue of state autonomy and rights by going around giving their own views on the matter for whatever reason.

“Those are their own views and opinions, not that of the Federal or State Government. It is their right to express their views, and we cannot stop them. The State Government, as endorsed by the State Legislative Assembly, is already engaged in negotiations with Putrajajaya to regain our eroded rights and autonomy as per MA63 as promised by the Prime Minister. Let’s not allow anyone or anything to disrupt or sabotage things at this stage,” he said.