KOTA KINABALU: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s ignorance of Sabah’s participation in Malaysia has shocked local opposition parties.
In yet another show of ignorance on Sabah’s history, Najib yesterday said the “Sabah autonomy was still intact in the 20-Point Malaysia Agreement”.
Pointing out the “lie”, State Reform Party (STAR) deputy chairman, Awang Ahmad Sah, said: “I am shocked that Najib as the prime minister is again proven to be ignorant about our history.
“The day before that he said that we joined Malaysia and then became independent on Sept 16, 1963.
“Now he is saying our autonomy is still intact in the 20-Point-Malaysia Agreement.”
Correcting Najib, Awang said the 20 points were not “part of” the Malaysia Agreement.
“The 20 points are agreements that contributed to the drafting of the Malaysia Agreement.
“The prime minister of all people should know that many of the rights promised in the 20-point agreement have been hacked away because of Kuala Lumpur ‘s interference in Sabah ‘s governance over the decades,” he said.
Awang added that many of the promises in the 20 points were never implemented.
“They have not implemented Borneonisation and the rights of the state to collect its own revenues.
“Malayans still head 85% of federal departments and agencies in Sabah and this excludes other junior positions which are all filled by Malayans.
“Also the 20 points had promised that we can collect and spend our own revenues, but in 2012 alone, the federal government collected RM24 billion from Sabah excluding other collections by other federal departments such as the Immigration Department, Road Transport Department, and so on.
“In addition, under Tenth Schedule, Part IV, Section 2(1) of the Federal Constitution, the federal government is supposed to give back two-fifth [40%] of the nett revenue collected from Sabah, but this has been denied to us.
“Isn’t this a case of daylight robbery and denial of our autonomy? he asked.
Anwar also ignorant
Awang also trained his guns on Pakatan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim, saying he was as bad as Najib.
He said that Anwar’s view that the state autonomy is up to the federal government “to give” was shocking.
“What the prime minister and Anwar need to be reminded of is that the autonomy for Sabah is not something for the federal government to decide.
“It was something that was given as special conditions for Sabah’s participation in the creation of the Malaysian federation.
“All that now needs to be done with this autonomy is compliance and implementation.
“So stop beating around the bush with lies and deliberate ignorance to hoodwink Sabahans,” said Awang, who is contesting the Putatan parliamentary seat.
