Tan making wild claims: Pakatan
Published on: Friday, September 29, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Pakatan Harapan Sabah strongly condemns what it described as unfounded and wild allegations by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan against its New Deal Manifesto.Its Council said in a statement that Tan was biased when reading Pakatan Harapan Sabah New Deal manifesto."Tan has gone too far. Even though we are of different political views, he has acted ungentlemanly," the Council said.
ADVERTISEMENT
It said Pakatan Harapan Sabah agrees that all Sabah's Special Rights and safeguards under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 must be defended."We also believe that MA63 should be regarded only as our bottom line, not our final goal. In other words, PH Sabah believes that Sabah can do better than as envisaged under MA63, without denying the sanctity of MA63 in any way."After more than five decades of Malaysia experience for Sabah, it is the time for us to take a bold and imaginative approach in paving the destiny of Sabah.
ADVERTISEMENT
"The bold and imaginative way is what we call a New Deal," the Council said.They also regretted Tan's disrespectful attitude towards a senior statesman, Tun Mahathir Mohamed.
ADVERTISEMENT
"He tried in every way and mean to distort and twist the noble intention of the New Deal claiming it as 'an excuse to remove the Special Rights of Sabah and Sarawak'."He even accused "Mahathir and PH leaders of plans to remove our immigration rights," the Council said. The PH Sabah Council added that the New Deal was a deal for Sabah to renegotiate with, in achieving real and meaningful autonomy, which gives us the pertinent power, capacities and resources to govern ourselves and to shape our own destiny, and not just autonomy in the narrow sense of "not having to take orders from Malaya.""Therefore, Pakatan Harapan Sabah asks Tan if any Sabahan, in his right mind, should be satisfied with the minimalist state autonomy for Sabah while on one hand a dominant federal government (almost amounting to a unitary state in all but name)."Or should we renegotiate for more state autonomy, not just confined with a limited framework the present Federal Constitution or even the MA63 only?" the Council asked.To do so meaningfully, such a discussion, it said, must involve a total reconsideration of Sabah's place in the federation or in other words, it is time for a "New Federation" and a new kind of Federalism, the PH Sabah Council said."That is why we need New Deal," the Council explained.Among the "new" elements in the "deal" offered to Sabah by PH was Power Sharing whereby a Deputy Prime Minister for Sabah and Sarawak would be appointed to reflect the equal partner status for these two signatories of MA63. Sabah, the Council, said should play a greater role in shaping her own as well as national policies. PH Sabah stated that limitation of the Chief Minister tenure was equally important to prevent "absolute power corrupts absolutely." The New Deal also offered more state autonomies - to have Education, Health, Transport, Social Safety and Tourism under State List or Concurrent List. PH Sabah was also offering more revenue sharing since fiscal decentralisation is the most important agenda for the whole exercise of devolution of power. "The New Deal we are offering to Sabah is 20 per cent Oil Royalty and 50 per cent revenue sharing. This offer is definitely better than provisions 112C and 112D, Part V, Schedule 10, as enshrined in Federal Constitution.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
