Enough of committees, debate it in Dewan
Published on: Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Penampang: Penampang MP Darell Leiking said while certain quarters are eagerly setting up committees upon committees to look into the issue of rights under the Malaysia Agreement, the end result may be just another promise to revisit it after the next election. "The people have had enough of committees and promises. It is time to debate this in parliament. Whether we agree, after the debate, to set up another committee, that is another thing.
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He said only debates in parliament had brought many changes. "The government can no longer avoid this. They cannot say we are discussing this in a special forum, in a meeting. You are an elected official of the parliament. You have been elected by the people. Talk about it in parliament," he said. "We have 56 MPs from Malaysian Borneo. The BN backbenchers will have to move a motion.
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I will make sure that every MP from Sabah and Sarawak will be there to support it," he said. Instead of forming more committees, Darell urged a coalition of leaders from both Sabah and Sarawak since both sides are now aware of the sentiments of the people.
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"As MP, I would love to see every MP from Sabah and Sarawak bring it in the coming sitting and urge for a debate about the issue in parliament. We should spend an extra four days to debate on this issue."Then let the Prime Minister answer. He must answer to the people of Sabah and Sarawak. I assure you that all Sabahans and Sarawakians, wherever they are, will be watching us live on the Internet as we fight for our rights."Let history record that we spoke in a special session in parliament on reviewing the MA63 and the speaker from Sabah Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia should encourage this as a beginning of a healing of this federation," he said.Darell said the country is at the crossroads and Sabahans have seen how Sarawakians have managed to put the Prime Minister in a corner. "Everything Sarawak had asked for is finally being reciprocated by the current Barisan Nasional government," he said. "At the same time, it is quite clear that Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem is sending signals to Sabah to join him in this struggle for more autonomy when he warned, after meeting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, that BN might lose the parliamentary seats if the Federal denies devolution of power to Sarawak." Adenan, said Darell, made it a priority, aside from Sarawak's development issue, to emphasise the Malaysia Agreement because he knew there is no satisfactory fulfilment of the agreement as yet."Instead of fulfilling the obligation, they tried to placate us by promising huge development to Sabah and Sarawak, saying they give us so much attention, they listen to us, give us this and that. "But there is a deeper and more real thing that has not been given, namely, our equal position in the whole of the Federation," he said. According to him, it was obvious that Federal politicians, and even some Sabah and Sarawak politicians do not know what to do with Sabah and Sarawak. The problem lay with the failure of all three governments, the Malayan government, Sabah government and Sarawak government to review the agreement in 1973, as required. "We talked about so many things at once; the autonomy, devolution of power, Malaysia Agreement 1963, Sabah-based, Sarawak-based. But nobody has come to the table to review the agreement after such meeting failed to materialise in 1973.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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