Anwar got it all wrong about Sabah's autonomy: Jeffrey
Published on: Thursday, February 14, 2013
Kota Kinabalu: Sarawak-based State Reform Party (Star) on Wednesday said the statement by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, regarding Sabah's autonomy within Malaysia is totally wrong.Its Chairman, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, said he was taken aback that a former Federal leader such as Anwar could still be so ignorant about the roots and meaning of Sabah's autonomy in the Federation of Malaysia.Anwar had said that, "Autonomy is policy adopted. And who can decide to give autonomy? It is the Federal Government. Not a local based party.
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Hence, the suggestion that a local-based party would determine autonomy is not true."However, Dr Jeffrey said, "it shows he doesn't know what he is talking about. He deliberately ignores the agreements and the assurances made by the founding fathers of Malaysia." The issue of autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak, he claimed, is not a matter of the Federal policies as indicated by Anwar but a "special condition" agreed to at the time of the formation of Malaysia. And that this was specifically spelt out in the 20-Point Agreement, the Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) Report, as well as under Article 8 of the Malaysia Agreement.
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He expressed regret that Anwar could still have such an attitude with regard to Sabah and Sarawak, which clearly shows his old Malay supremacy mentality and attitude towards the East Malaysian states."Let's be very clear about the fact that in the case of Sabah and Sarawak, the central government, the Malayan political parties, nor the state political parties decide or determine autonomy.
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"This is because autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak had already been decided and determined by the various documents," he said.Dr Jeffrey said in view of this historical fact any argument about the definition of autonomy was irrelevant, because what is required now is compliance and implementation. "This is what Star is fighting for".In response to a statement by PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali, he said Azmin is only confirming Anwar's refusal to understand Sabah's need for rights and autonomy that were promised in the highest forms of documents.PKR, he said, is still in denial about historical facts."With this attitude I don't see how PKR will be different from Umno if the PR were to take over the Federal Government," he said.Dr Jeffrey said he told Azmin that the Star had long given up any hope of negotiating with PKR mostly because the PKR takes on the role of decider in the entire negotiation process and treating local parties as subservient.Because of this, he said, Star decided to go on its own in the coming election by contesting majority of the parliamentary and State seats. "If we were to depend on PKR or the Pakatan to give us seats, we would end up with only about four or five State seats. "Under such scenario, we might as well close shop," he exclaimed.Azmin, he said, needs to understand the local sentiments of Sabahans who are now very much educated about the genesis of Malaysia. "They (Sabahans) now know that when Federation was formed, (former Prime Minister) Tunku Abdul Rahman promised in no uncertain terms that we will be equal partners with Malaya and Sarawak. "This meant we were not supposed to be subservient to Malaya in any way," he said. But what PKR is trying to do, he said, is only perpetuating Sabah to be subservient to a Malayan lord by controlling all local parties. On that scenario, he reiterated that he has always believed that local parties need to unite under the United Borneo Front (UBF) so that with enough seats won, Sabah will be able to make its own decisions.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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