Jabu slams Dr Mahathir for relentless attacks on Najib

He forgot to look east from Kuala Lumpur to attend to the needs of Sarawak and Sabah.

KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang has lambasted former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his continuous criticism against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Jabu said when Dr Mahathir was the prime minister for 22 years, his policy was to ‘ look east’ but unfortunately, both East Malaysian states Sarawak and Sabah fell out of his radar.

“He forgot to look east from Kuala Lumpur to attend to the needs of Sarawak and Sabah,” he said when representing Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem to launch the National Landscape Day 2016 at the old State Legislative Assembly building here yesterday.

Jabu said Dr Mahathir’s serious oversight in not looking east enough to attend to the needs of the two Bornean states had resulted in the states’ rights being eroded besides being left behind in terms of development.

“Had Tun Mahathir looked east enough to Sarawak and Sabah, we would have been a lot better and there is no need for Najib to rehabilitate what had not been done in the past. Najib is a very focused prime minister who really understands the needs of Sarawak and Sabah.”

He also said the erosion of the state’s rights had resulted in Adenan having to request to the federal government to reinstate the state’s autonomy and rights as promised in the Malaysia Agreement, which Najib had in principle agreed to.

“That is the principle which we are happy to know, the first move by Adenan has succeeded in terms of reinstatement of our administration powers. The 13-point administration empowerment was accepted by Najib and we are now looking into the legal aspects of the Federal Constitution when Malaysia was formed. If they were eroded, then we want them to be reinstated.”

He said the state would continue to support Najib wholeheartedly as the prime minister and also Adenan because the chief minister had come up with more than 50 initiatives for the people of Sarawak and the people wanted him to continue helming the state for another five years.

Jabu said while Sarawak and Sabah did not want to be involved in a personal quarrel, both states were very much in support of Najib ‘ for really looking east within Malaysia’.

“We are in support of what had been promised during the formation of Malaysia. Sarawak and Sabah jointly formed the Federation of Malaysia as common partners. Therefore, we (Sarawak and Sabah) cannot be equated like the ordinary states in Malaysia.”

Thus, he said, Sarawak and Sabah must stand on equal terms with Malaya.

On the opposition, Jabu said the action by state DAP in not supporting the RM500 million additional allocation for rural development showed that they were the enemies of the rural people.

Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang, Deputy Chief Minister