Let Sabah parties rule state, SAPP tells Pakatan

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Feb 6, 2013

(The Malaysian Insider) – The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has insisted to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that Sabah-based parties must contest the majority of seats in the state legislative assembly, saying this was in keeping with the Borneo state’s right to autonomy as enshrined in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.

Repeating his refrain, SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said his party was willing to relent to PR contesting a majority of the state’s federal seats, allowing the federal opposition pact its dream to claim power in Putrajaya.

But administrative power over the state must stay in the hands of parties with roots in Sabah, the former Sabah chief minister insisted, saying that to achieve this, the state-federal seat ratio should follow his party’s formula.

There are 60 state and 25 federal seats in the east Malaysian state of Sabah, often referred to as Barisan Nasional’s (BN) “fixed deposit” together with neighbouring Sarawak.

“We have stated that this GE13 is about restoring the autonomy of Sabah (and Sarawak) as promised in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the spirit of the formation of Malaysia.

“The Kuching Declaration that says that Sabah, Sarawak have equal status as Malaya is relevant,” Yong wrote in an email to The Malaysian Insider here yesterday.

The outspoken politician was referring to the recent declaration announced and adopted by PR’s DAP, PKR and PAS during the September 16 Malaysia Day celebrations at Chonglin Park in Kuching, Sarawak.

Key among the seven-point declaration was a pledge to restore the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement and the position of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners within Malaysia, “by restoring autonomy to Sarawak and Sabah within the framework of the Federal Constitution”.

“Consistent with these promises and principles, local parties should contest a majority of state seats, and PR can contest a majority of MP seats,” Yong pointed out.

The opposition front in Sabah is a crowded one and in the months leading up to the coming 13th general election, all players have been scrambling for their share of the state’s 60 state seats up for grabs.

PR, the opposition pact that was formed in the peninsula after BN suffered significant losses in Election 2008, has set its sights on toppling the ruling pact from its Sabah bastion.

But Sabah residents are said to have grown more communal over the years, with opposition politicians in the land below the wind often blaring the “Sabah for Sabahans” war cry, fuelling the already deep-rooted anti-Malaya sentiment felt by locals there.

Like SAPP, another party ― the State Reform Party (STAR) ― led by political maverick Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, also believes that administrative power over the state must be retained with Sabahans.

Both PR and SAPP have yet to make inroads in seat negotiations with Kitingan, who insists on fielding his own in the majority or all of the state’s 60 seats.

But with SAPP adamant on contesting the lion’s share and PR unwilling to concede to this request, it appears that it will likely be a fractured opposition front that will face political giant BN for the Sabah contest in the coming polls.

The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that seat talks between PR and SAPP have come to temporary halt, according to PR ally Datuk Seri Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing.

Yong did not dispute this, only saying that his party was waiting for PR to decide on its own seat sharing formula among its three parties, Bumburing’s Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) and Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin’s Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPPS).

Both Bumburing and Lajim were former strongmen in Sabah BN but left their respective parties UPKO and Umno last year to form the two PR-friendly political movements.

“We are waiting for PR or PKR to make their formula official and to announce it because we are accountable not only to our parties but also to the rakyat.