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Tenom: Sabahans must ensure that Sabah-based parties form the backbone of future Sabah governments so that Sabah’s interests and rights will always be protected.

Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) Deputy Sec-Gen Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said his advice is justified based on past bitter experiences, citing the passing of the controversial Territorial Sea Act in 2012 (TSA 2012) – which limits state powers to only three nautical miles from the shore.

Saying this must never be repeated, he noted that there were leaders who were silent like mice when the TSA was tabled and passed in Parliament back in 2012, but are now vocal about state rights. Although he did not identify them, it is believed that he was referring to leaders in Sabah Umno and Barisan Nasional.

“There are leaders who were Members of Parliament (MPs) or even federal ministers in 2012. They should explain why they are only raising objections now (on the TSA). 

“Why did they not protest when the Bill was tabled in Cabinet and Parliament in 2012 until it became law? These are records of parties and leaders that cannot be erased from history,” he added.

The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister said this is why it is crucial that the backbone of the state government must be a local party to keep Sabah’s priorities at the forefront.

“The core of the Federal and State Governments should come from different parties that ensures the relationship between the Federal and State Governments remains inter-governmental, not merely intra-party.

“This kind of relationship underpins the current alignment where the Federal Government’s core is Pakatan Harapan (PH), while the State Government’s core is GRS.

The national parties form the backbone at the federal level, and local parties form the backbone at the state level, a political model that must be maintained,” he said.

Armizan was speaking at the annual meeting of Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS) of Melalap, here, on Saturday.

He said a clear example of the importance of maintaining this political model is in the drafting of the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Act 2025, which was passed in Parliament in March 2025 (Dewan Rakyat on March 6, 2025, Dewan Negara on March 25 2025).

He said the CCUS Act only applies for peninsula after getting Sabah, Sarawak’s input.

“The original plan was for the CCUS Bill to cover the entire country. However, following feedback from the Sabah government under GRS and the Sarawak government under GPS, the Federal Cabinet agreed to limit its application to Peninsular Malaysia and FT Labuan.

“This was made possible because the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is committed to recognising the special position of Sabah and Sarawak as provided in the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” he said.

While emphasising that Sabah does not reject national parties, Armizan who is also Member of Parliament for Papar pointed out that Sabah Cabinet also includes PH elected people representatives.

“This ensures state matters are always discussed within the structure of inter-governmental relations, and not negotiated internally within a single party first,” he said.

Armizan attributed the difference in outcomes between 2012 and 2025 to two factors: first, in 2012 both the federal and state governments were led and dominated by the same national party, unlike today where the federal core is a national party and the state core is a local party.

Secondly, he said almost all of Sabah’s MPs at the time were in national parties or coalitions and thus bound by national party decisions, which dictated their votes in Parliament.