Fulfill and implement Sabah’s rights before GE14 – Jeffrey

KOTAKINABALU: The incumbent Barisan Nasional (BN) government should fulfill and implement Sabah's rights as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and provided for in the Federal Constitution now, while it is in power, instead of promising it in an election manifesto.

STAR president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said this in response to a statement by Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Anifah Aman who announced that Sabah's rights will be in the forthcoming BN's manifesto for the 14th general election (GE14).

“If BN puts the promise of fulfilling Sabah's rights in its election manifesto, what is the difference between the government and the opposition? Nothing! They are only making election promises!” Jeffrey said.

He challenged the government to prove its sincerity by taking immediate action and walking the talk by fulfilling at least one of the key revenue rights of Sabah, i.e. the 40% net revenue collected from Saba

“In fact, the current government should already have a comprehensive plan to restore and implement solutions to address issues related to the demands and dissatisfactions of Sabahans.

“Otherwise, there is nothing new and that BN is seen only as putting these Sabah rights promises in their GE14 manifesto simply because everybody else will be doing it. And there is no guarantee the promises will be kept.

“And by promising to fulfil these promises, Anifah is actually admitting that for half a century BN has failed to keep its core promises to Sabah. If it's sincere and really wants to get the votes of Sabahans, it will simply hand over what have been owed to us since 1963.

“You are now in power. So why not just do it to prove that you mean it. This way BN will be able to show that it means business and wants to be the benevolent government which wants to be fair to one and all, and not just another party which just makes a possibly empty promise,” he said.

Anifah has expressed his hope that the BN government will try its best to include the MA63 in its manifesto for the upcoming 14th general election.

In this regard, he also hoped that the manifesto would also include the state's 40 per cent revenue rights, which was stated in MA63.

“We are focusing on the MA63, but we are focusing on the 40 per cent revenue rights. That is where our money will come from,” Anifah said at a meeting with local bloggers here on Friday.