Upko to fight for special unit for non-Muslim affairs
PUTATAN: United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) is committed to fight for the creation of a special unit dealing with the affairs of non-Muslims at both Sabah and federal levels.
Its acting president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau said this was among some of the 88 sub-contents of Upko's manifesto for the 14th general election and was mentioned under the content title “To strengthen racial and religious harmony” of the Upko's manifesto document which was distributed yesterday.
Under the main title, the party also expressed its commitment to fight for the creation of the Religious Harmony Act and other legislation that would strengthen and improve the relationship between races and religions.
The party also expressed its commitment to fight for the government to take legal action on any parties or individuals that cause religious sentiment problems.
Altogether, there were 13 main contents in the manifesto, said Madius when launching it at the Pan Borneo Hotel near here yesterday.
“The manifesto has been presented to the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership. Out of the 88 subcontents, 33 were adopted by BN,” he said.
Madius also stressed that one of the major issues that was raised in the manifesto that was considered of paramount importance was for the protection of Sabah's rights in Malaysia.
“This is the most important request by Upko in the manifesto,” he said.
Also raised in the manifesto is the issue related to Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and Native Titles which continued to be a problem to the local community due to the slowness in the process and land surveying works.
Under the manifesto, Madius said the party was committed to struggle for more allocations for surveying works on NCR and NT through the Pantas (Native land services programme) programme.
It was also mentioned in the manifesto that the party would fight to ensure the native lands of the Orang Asli folks in Peninsular Malaysia would also be protected by the government.
Also contained in the manifesto is the demand for the resolution of the illegal immigrants issue.
The party is committed to fight for the solution of the issue and also calls for the re-issuance of Malaysian identification card that were issued in Sabah and for the re-issuance to be done according to the law.
With regards to the illegal immigrants issue, Madius claimed that one of the reasons the party's president lost in the last election was because some were unhappy with the party's Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCIA) demands on illegal immigrants in Sabah.
He cited that only Upko spent RM300,000 to come up with a research report on the status of illegal immigrants in Sabah and how they managed to acquire their identification cards.
Present at the event were party vice presidents Datuk Wences Anggang, Datuk Ewon Ebin, Datuk Bobbey Suan, Datuk Marcus Makin Mojigoh, Datuk Dr Lucas Umbul and Datuk Masiung Banah; party secretary general Datuk Donald Mojuntin as well as Upko's candidate for Penampang, Ceasar Mandela Malakun.