KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee called out political parties for their narrow focus on winning seats in the coming Sabah state election while failing to address the real issues facing the State.
“Many political parties are like dogs chasing cars, they chase after positions but have no idea what to do once they get them,” he said in a statement, Saturday.
He said it is disheartening to see a situation where the pursuit of power seems to overshadow the crucial need for parties and leaders to demonstrate a deep understanding of Sabah’s challenges and give well-defined solutions, within this window of opportunity to fulfil MA63.
“When the primary focus is merely on obtaining seats, without a clear articulation of one’s core struggles and plans, it risks reducing the democratic process to a meaningless chase for power.
“The people of Sabah deserve to make informed decisions based on a clear understanding of each party’s core struggles, principles and proposed actions, not simply the ambition to occupy a seat,” he said.
The former Chief Minister said the 73 seats belong to the people, not parties.
“It should be highlighted that once the State Legislative Assembly has been dissolved, all the 73 seats are returned to the people.
“The seats are no longer held by politicians or political parties. It is then up to the people to elect their representatives and the Government via the ballot box.
“As for SAPP, we already clearly published our 7-point core struggles for this coming Sabah elections. The focus includes political autonomy, whereby GRS as the local-party coalition government, should contest all 73 seats,” he said.
He said SAPP has already outlined its seven key priorities, including giving Sabah more control over its affairs, land reform, addressing identity card issues, implementing the Malaysia Agreement 1963, changing the Governor’s title, returning Labuan to Sabah and securing fair representation for Borneo states in Parliament.
“SAPP, as a disciplined and progressive party, will continue to pursue its core struggles for the coming elections irrespective of seats sharing or no seat sharing,” he said.
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