Harris again says KL being unfairly blamed
Published on: Saturday, July 23, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Mohd Salleh (pic) reiterated, Friday, that the 20 Points safeguards and Malaysia Agreement are no longer legally binding in the country because Malaysia is ruled by Parliament and Sabah is ruled by the State Assembly."Thus, both Federal and State Governments do not have to refer to the 20 Points and Malaysia Agreement since Malaysia Day in 1963. The 20 Points and Malaysia Agreement are water under the bridge," he said. "I have said it before and will now repeat, all the essence and key points of the 20 points and Malaysia Agreement had already been incorporated into the Malaysian Federal Constitution.
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"Our founding fathers have agreed to the formation of Malaysia basing on the negotiations which have produced the Malaysian Federal Constitution. "Our Federal constitution is the supreme law and Parliament our supreme body of Malaysia. The Federal Constitution is the framework and guiding principle by which the Malaysian Federal Government governs Malaysia. "The Federal Government has not and does not have to refer to the 20 points or Malaysia Government anymore," he said.
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He added that if there are breaches against the rights and privileges of Sabah and Sarawak which have been enshrined in the Federal Constitution, it is the duty of political leaders to protect them. "The forum to do this is of course Parliament. Sarawak has seven Federal Cabinet Ministers and 26 MPs and Sabah has six Federal Cabinet Ministers and 24 MPs in the Federal Cabinet and Parliament, respectively.
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"If there is any truth, why these political leaders have remained silent when they are part and parcel of the ruling Federal and State Governments? "Those who are in BN who feel strongly that the Federal Government has short changed Sabah and Sarawak pertaining to the 20 points and Malaysia Agreement should immediately resign as a matter of principle," he said."The present political situation in Malaysia is getting more complex which is attracting 'Situational' and 'Opportunistic' politicians and political parties, especially those with diminishing political support, to go for pseudo/emotional issues like breaches on 20 points, colonisation, Malaysia Agreement. Opposition in need to exploit these issues is understandable. "What I don't understand is that the BN top leadership has not reined in and put a short leash on their component parties including their presidents. "The BN should put their YBs to work hard and exact good performance from them instead of using 20 points/Malaysia Agreement to fan popularity for themselves/their political parties. "If allowed to continue unabated, the current debate on the 20 points/Malaysia Agreement will cause irreparable damage to the very political fabric that is holding Malaysia as a nation together," he said.He also questioned former Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan's motive for cancelling 400,000 shares of Sabahans in Yayasan Sabah which had been issued for each and every eligible Sabahan.He alleged that the decision to cancel these shares was because Pairin had managed Yayasan badly and could not generate profit to pay for the dividends to Sabahans. "Each of these shares for Sabahans, if Pairin did not cancel it, would be worth about RM400,000 today, taking into account the current net worth of Yayasan Sabah of RM160,000,000," he said.Harris also accused Pairin of revoking the 960,330 acres of land for landless Sabahans earmarked by the Berjaya Government with the land ending in the hands of non-Sabahans, especially West Malaysian companies."Had Pairin given the land reserved by the Berjaya Government, each landless Sabahan the 15 acres of palm oil would be worth about RM450,000 for each acre, can now fetch RM30,000 or RM13,500,000,000," he said.Harris also accused Pairin of revoking the requirement of 49 per cent equity for Bumiputras for plantation of 1,000 acres or more under the New Economic Policy."It was Pairin who decided to transfer the 'Head of Islam' from Sabah Head of State to the Agong. As a result, Sabah is the only State whose TYT has been deprived as the Head of Islam," he said.Pairin's decisions, he said, had deprived 400,000 Sabahans RM233,500,000,000 in total mostly into the hands of non-Sabahans. "What had impoverished Sabahans were his short-sighted decisions and poor management of Sabah's resources and economy. It is quite easy for anyone to see Parin's decisions had inflicted the poor rural people more than other Sabahans."The 20 points and the Malaysia Agreement by themselves cannot and have nothing to do with impoverishing Sabahans. Pushing the blame to KL at this political juncture, when BN is not strong like before, is very convenient and can only be for personal political agenda and to cover up personal past misdeeds and bad decisions," he said.He accused BN political leaders who are exploiting the 20 points/Malaysia Agreement of wanting to stir unhappiness and discontentment among their own constituents, blame KL for their failure to look after their voters."Pointing the finger of blame on the Federal Government is not new. There has been an established pattern before. Political leaders who used to be in power in the state government but in opposition at Federal level, were very fond of exploiting anti-Federal sentiment. "The BN top leadership should prevent this stirring up of anti-Federal feelings among BN parties from rearing its ugly head by nipping it in the bud. Or else, things may get out of hand like before," he said. Generally speaking, he said Sabah and Sarawak have a lot more "power" than other states with most of the policies and power of decisions that affect our livelihood invested in the State Governments.The crux of the problems, he said, does lie in power sharing between the Federal Government and Sabah but the lack of system management and delegations of authority. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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