Transfer of management is not autonomy: Jeffrey
Published on: Saturday, September 26, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah committee to study the devolution of power from the Federal Government should be bipartisan and appreciate the difference between devolution of power and autonomy."The transfer of management or devolution of power, while helpful in terms of efficiency, is not autonomy per se... but merely a delegation of powers," said Star Sabah Chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.Real autonomy, he said, will be reflected in the Federal and State constitutions as well as in the allocation of legislative powers under the State, Federal and Concurrent Lists.
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Jeffrey said this in response to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman's announcement that the State Cabinet had agreed to set up the committee to be headed by the State Secretary and made up of top government officials."There appears to be a general feeling of hide and seek being played by the Federal government and the Sabah leaders on the return of autonomy to Sabah."Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem has made it clear that Sarawak is seeking the return of its autonomy as Sarawak formed Malaysia with Malaya and that Sarawak and Sabah and were different from the 11 states in Malaya."Sarawak's recent announcement on the Chinese school UEC which is equivalent to the national school STPM is a case of exercise of autonomy in education by Sarawak," he said.
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Jeffrey opined that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's response to Adenan's request for return of autonomy is couched in vague terms of devolution of federal power while Sabah leaders appear to be talking about management and administration of federal projects so that they are better and more efficiently managed.He said the restoration of full autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak long sought by the Borneo nationalists and activists has reached a critical stage after years of unanswered demands with recent moves for such restoration.
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"It is imperative that the Sabah committee be bipartisan and comprises representatives of all stakeholders including the opposition and civil society."The need for such bipartisan support is more so given that the Umno-led Sabah government does not enjoy the confidence of large segments of civil society in Sabah to safeguard Sabah rights and autonomy," he claimed.He added that previous denials by Sabah government leaders including from Barisan Nasional components on Sabah's autonomy rights have added to the suspicions that these leaders do not have the guts to stand up for Sabah rights and cannot be trusted in negotiations with the Federal Government.The committee, he said should also be clear that it is ultimately full autonomy and not project administrative management that is to be returned to Sabah and certainly not half-measures."The details of the transfer of the autonomy as prepared by the Sabah committee should then be tabled for debate and endorsement by the State Legislative Assembly before being presented to the Federal Government for implementation and transfer of the autonomy."Where necessary, amendments of the law and the Federal Constitution should also be passed and adopted," he said.Project management with ultimate power and authority still retained by Putrajaya is not transfer of autonomy back to Sabah, he said.For instance, building of schools and roads being decided in Putrajaya and federal ministries with implementation to be handed over to the Sabah government is transfer of management and not transfer of autonomy."If it is to be transfer of autonomy, there is no need for a federal JKR or federal education department to be in Sabah. Just hand over the financial allocations to the Sabah government and let the government and its departments and agencies including JKR Sabah to handle the projects from A to Z including which school, which road, and all the necessary details down to the nitty-gritty.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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