Sabah speaker: Establish true identity of Doris Jones

(The Star) – Sabah state assembly speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak has urged the Government to establish the true identity of Doris Jones, the alleged leader of the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia (SSKM) movement.

“It seems Jones is her husband’s name and she is based in Northampton, UK. She is said to have left Malaysia some time ago and is a UK resident,” said Salleh in a blog post on Thursday.

The former Sabah chief minister said Jones had been in the UK for some time, but only became politically active after meeting former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan during a talk held in London.

She is also closely associated with another London-based movement called Friends of Pakatan Rakyat, which is headed by PKR and DAP supporters.

“Hence, she left Malaysia for marriage and career reasons and not because she was being persecuted for being too outspoken, as she is suggesting,” he added.

Salleh, who is also Sabah Umno deputy chief, said Jones had created the false impression that Sabah and Sarawak are “fighting” to secede and gain independence from Malaysia.

This “romantic notion”, he said, has attracted the attention of the UK press such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which recently granted her an interview.

However, Salleh said the situation is nowhere near the truth.

“At best, all we are asking for is some measure of autonomy not amounting to home rule but at least in the spirit of being able to determine our own destiny and manage those affairs that can be interpreted as state matters,” he said.

Terming the misrepresentation of the reality in Sabah and Sarawak as “very mischievous”, he urged the Government to provide an answer.

“There is no armed conflict in Sabah and Sarawak, and neither is there unrest such as Sabahans and Sarawakians up in arms asking for freedom from Malaysia,” said Salleh.