Dr Jeffrey disagrees with PM take on autonomy for Sabah

PRESS STATEMENT BY
DATUK DR JEFFREY G. KITINGAN
PKR VICE PRESIDENT / BORNEO HERITAGE FOUNDATION CHAIRMAN
November 4, 2010


KOTA KINABALU: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) today disagreed with the many contentions of Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak's statement today on autonomy and democratic processes in Sabah.

PKR Vice President, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the Federal Government under Barisan Nasionalto (BN) rule for almost a half-century had not only disrespected Sabah autonomy but had at times trampled on the Malaysia Agreement and the 20 Points which laid the conditions for Sabah to agree form Malaysia in 1963.

"What autonomy? Even Borneonisation of Federal Departments in Sabah has not reached 10 percent until now," he said in a statement here.

Dr Jeffrey, who is also Chairman of Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), said, the UMNO-led BN rapped Sabah State Constitution when it came to Sabah in 1991 by doing everything to bring down a democratically elected government then.

"UMNO, using a divide-and-rule tactics did everything to change the political equation by changing election boundaries, and then took more than half of the 60 state constituencies to itself, usurping the rights of the state and disenfranchising the genuine locals in the end.

"The Federal Government has not respected Malaysia Agreement and the 20 Points by downgrading Sabah and Sarawak from equal partners to merely one of the 13 states, resulting in a diminished revenue for the state.

"That is why we want a review of the Malaysia Agreement. If they are sincere, the Federal Government should agree to a review," he added.

MEANWHILE, deputy chairman of Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMa), Daniel John Jambun, in a separate statement took to task Najib for misleading the world about the autonomy for Sabah being respected and democratic process duly upheld here.

"Kuala Lumpur wants to control everything in Sabah. They even took away our rights to elect and appoint our Chief Minister and also our High Court Judges.

"Capable locals are denied the opportunities to head Federal Departments. Appointment of high ranking officers in the state now only favours the Muslims, resulting in untold discriminations against Christians especially the Kadazandusuns and Chinese," he said.

"They did the gerrymandering of Sabah's election boundaries and they issued fake identity cards to Muslim foreigners and they registered them as voters in Sabah.

"All this were done so that the Christian natives would be disenfranchised. The world must be told of this dirty tactics by the Federal leaders. It stinks to heaven, and Najib cannot hide this facts behind his sweet talking to the world about what has been meted to Sabah.

"Is this what Najib means by due democratic process being respected in Sabah? The people of Sabah and the international community do not think so," Daniel said in one of his terse statements so far on the issue.

Daniel said Najib's cry that the Federal Government had never sidelined Sabah from development does not hold water as Sabah, though the richest state, is now the second poorest after Kelantan, after near a half-century in Malaysia Federation.

DATUK DR JEFFREY G. KITINGAN

The Malaysian Agreement

KUCHING - A PKR vice president Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan has assured that the rights of Sabah and Sarawak that are the bases for the two States to join the Federation of Malaysia 46 years ago will be restored if Pakatan Rakyat is to form the next Federal Government.

“These rights are contained in the Malaysian Agreement. For Sabah there are 20 points, and Sarawak 18 points,” he said when delivering a keynote address at a forum held a hotel in Kuching on Sunday night.

The forum entitled ‘Promises of Malaysia for Sarawak and Sabah – The Way Forward’ was organised by PKR Batu Kawah branch to enlighten the people regarding the formation of Malaysia.

State assemblyman for Padungan and a PKR leader Dominique Ng and former MP for Sri Aman Jimmy Donald also spoke at the function which was attended by some 100 people.

“We have in Sabah the Tambunan Declaration – a new deal that has been accepted as the national policy of PKR. This declaration is not only to remind our national leaders of the promises made to Sabah and Sarawak, but also a promise that will restore our rights,” Kitingan said, adding that apart from the points as mentioned in the Agreement, there were also undertakings and assurances pledged to the Borneo States.

Many national leaders as well as Sabahans and Sarawakians do not know about the 20 or 18 points that were spelt out in the Malaysian Agreement.

“It is our duty to remind and to educate the federal leaders on the Malaysian Agreement,” he said and pointed out that it was not entirely their faults that the rights of the two States had been taken, overlooked and neglected. Sabah and Sarawak leaders should equally be blamed as they did not seek the implementation of those rights.

“What did we do? We go along with them. We forget about our rights and franchise due to greed for power. Compared to Sarawak, Sabah is worse due to the entry of UMNO which introduced money politics and politics of fear,” he said, claiming that Sabah which was once the richest in the country is now the poorest State as well as infested with problems of illegal immigrants.

Kitingan said that when Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, our founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman promised that Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya would be regarded as equal partners.

“But today the two states are just being treated like a state of Perlis which is no bigger than Miri,” he said, calling on the people of the two states to “work and to move together” through PKR.

“PKR is a national party that has accepted our rights. One day we hope that our rights that have been eroded are to be restored,” he said.

Kitingan who is one of those who have been actively advocating for the restoration of rights and justice for Sabah had been arrested under ISA.

“I do not do this (fight for justice) for myself, but for our people. I consider it our duty,” he stressed.

At the end of the forum, six main resolutions including recognizing the partnership status of the former federation of Malaya and the former British colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak as the cornerstone of viable, strong and enduring nation building agenda and setting up a Royal Commission of the Federation renewal were adopted.

The 20-point Malaysian Agreement For Sabah

Point 1: Religion
While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia, there should be no State religion in North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply in North Borneo.

Point 2: Language
(a) Malay should be the national language of the Federation.
(b) English should continue to be used for a period of ten years after Malaysia Day.
(c) English should be the official language of North Borneo for all purposes, State or Federal without limitation of time.

Point 3: Constitution
Whilst accepting that the present Constitution of the Federation of Malaya should form the basis of the Constitution of Malaysia, the Constitution of Malaysia should be a completely new document drafted and agreed in the light of free association of States and should not be a series of amendments to a constitution drafted and agreed by different States in totally different circumstances. A new Constitution for North Borneo was, of course, essential.

Point 4: Head of the Federation
The Head of State in North Borneo should not be eligible for election as Head of the Federation.

Point 5: Name of the Federation
“Malaysia” but not “Melayu Raya”

Point 6: Immigration
Control over immigration into any part of Malaysia from outside should rest with the Federation Government but entry into North Borneo should also require approval of the State Government. The Federal Government should not be able to veto the entry of persons into North Borneo for State Government purposes except on strictly security grounds. North Borneo should have unfettered control over the movement of reasons, other than those in Federal Government employ, from other parts of Malaysia into North Borneo.

Point 7: Right of Secession
There should be no right to secede from the Federation.

Point 8: Borneanisation
Borneanisation of the public services should proceed as quickly as possible.

Point 9: British Officers
Every effort should be made to encourage British Officers to remain in the public services until their places can be taken by suitably qualified people from North Borneo.

Point 10: Citizenship
The recommendations in paragraph 148 (K) of the Report of the Cobbold commission should govern the citizenship rights of persons in the Federation of North Borneo subject to the following amendments.

(a) Subparagraph (1) should not contain the provision as to fie years residence.

(b) In order to tie up with our law, subparagraph (1a) should read ‘seven out of ten years’ instead of ‘eight out of twelve years’.

(c) Subparagraph (III) should not contain any restriction tied to the citizenship of parents – a person born in North Borneo after Malaysia must be a Federal citizen.

Point 11: Tariff and Finance
North Borneo should have control of its own finance, development funds and tariffs.

Point 12: Special Position of Indigenous Races
In principle, the indigenous races of North Borneo should enjoy special rights analogous to those enjoyed by Malays in Malaya, but the present Malaya formula is this regard is not necessarily applicable in North Borneo.

Point 13: State Government
(a) The Chief Minister should be elected by unofficial members of Legislative Council.
(b) There should be a proper Ministerial system in North Borneo.

Point 14: Transitional Period
This should be seven years and during such period legislative powers must be left with the State of North Borneo by the Constitution and not merely delegated to the State Government by the Federal Government.

Point 15: Education
The existing educational system of North Borneo should be maintained and for this reason it should be under State control.

Point 16: Constitutional Safeguards
No amendment, modification or withdrawal of any special safeguards granted to North Borneo should be made by the Central Government without the positive concurrence of the Government of the State of North Borneo. The power of amending the Constitution of the State of North Borneo should belong exclusively to the people of the State.

Point 17: Representation in the Federal Parliament
This should take account not only of the population of North Borneo but also of its size and potentialities and in any case should not be less than that of Singapore.

Point 18: Name of Head of State
Yang Dipertua Negara

Point 19: Name of State
Sabah

Point 20: Land, Forests, Local Government, etc
The provisions in the Constitution of the Federation in respect of the power of the National Land Council should not apply in North Borneo. Likewise, the National Council for the Local Government should not apply in North Borneo.

(Note: The Broken Shield will later on publish Sarawak’s 18 points in the Malaysian Agreement) - The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com