Agenda Borneo versus Agenda Malaya in GE14 — Jeffrey

KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Sabah (GS) has stressed that only victory in the 14th general elections will ensure the return of Sabah’s rights after 54 years in Malaysia where Sabah has lagged behind in development compared to its counterpart in Malaya.

Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan highlighted this in the GS Sabah Rights conventions which had been held in Tempasuk, Telupid and Beaufort.

The next GS Sabah Rights Convention will be held in Kudat today.

In the recent conventions held in Tempasuk, Tongod in Telupid, and Beaufort, the Sabah Rights Mini Convention received overwhelming responses from the rakyat and the people were urged to rally behind the alliance as their platform to pursue greater state autonomy and to ensure that the Sabahans get the fair share of the promises made to them 54 years ago.

In the conventions, Jeffrey said the position of Sabah as one of the partners in the formation of Malaysia need to be reaffirmed and the entitlements of Sabah especially in revenue collections as promised in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and in the Federal Constitution must be honoured.

He said Sabah had been declined the right of entitlement of 40% of the revenue collected from the state since 1974.

Jeffrey claimed that the Federal Government owed Sabah more than RM100 billion excluding interest in arrears accumulated and due since 1975.

He asserted that Sabah was also denied her entitlement to 10% export duty on petroleum and gas exported from the state estimated to be worth RM2.2 billion.

The return of the 40% entitlement was agreed upon and safeguarded in Article 112C (1) and Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

These were also stated in Point No.11 of the 20 Points and Paragraph 24(8) of the IGC Report.

In his 30-minute speeches covering the issue of Sabah’s rights, the president of Party Solidarity Tanah Airku (STAR) and a member of Gabungan Sabah or the United Sabah Alliance, urged the people of Sabah to rally behind Gabungan Sabah or GS, claiming that it is the only alliance that is upholding the “Borneo Agenda” whereas all the rest of the parties are supporting a “Malaya Agenda”.

He said that based on this situation, there is a “one against one fight” in the next election.

He stressed that the Borneo Agenda can safeguard Sabah’s future.

He said that “This is our last battle to revive what was lost to us!”

In the same conventions, Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee, president of Sabah Progressive Party and also a member of Gabungan Sabah, concurred with Jeffrey of the “Agenda Borneo”.

Yong said the United Sabah Alliance was established to overcome the “divide and rule” by BN/Umno. The alliance now comprised four parties: Party Solidarity Tanah Airku (STAR), Sabah Progressive Party, Party Harapan Rakyat and Party Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah.

Yong reminded the people that any party outside the alliance is aligned towards the “’Malaya Agenda” as they would always be dictated by the leaders from Malaya and he urged the people to reject these parties.

The two-party system adopted by the Malaya parties should be rejected in total as it doesn’t bring any good to Sabahan as a whole as currently Sabah is ruled under BN/Umno, he said.

He stressed that what Sabah should have is the system of “one country two system” as is practised in Hongkong and Macau.

At the event in Tongod Telupid, Gabungan Sabah’s morale was boosted when Fidin Bin Datuk Malek Chua, the son of the late former Kuamut assemblyman Datuk Haji Malik Chua resigned as Timbalan 1 of Pertubuhan Perpaduan Rakyat Kebangsaan Sabah and joined the alliance while 2,000 new members also joined the alliance and handed over their membership applications.