KOTA KINABALU, JUNE 17- Maverick politician Jeffrey Kitingan has thrown a lifeline to beleaguered Prime Minister Najib Razak as word spreads of wheeling and dealing in the upper echelons of power over the direction of the country following last month’s general elections
The Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) chairman who has taken a hardline on any relations with peninsula or Malayan politicians interfering in Sabah and Sarwak’s affairs, scoffed at the idea of Sabah and Sarawak MPs meeting with Malayan politicians to engineer ways to remain relevant.
Jeffrey, a state assembly representative, made the comments in response to reports that MPs from the two states had met Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
He said it was clear that MPs from Sabah and Sarawak held a crucial position ever since the 2008 election as well as in the 13th General Election last month.
This could be seen, he said, when Najib and the earlier prime minister, had a free reign to appoint their cabinets as they pleased. Najib had little choice in the appointment of 21 ministers and deputies from the two Borneo States following the outcomes of the GE13.
He said Najib’s promise to make further changes in his cabinet later this year to accommodate unhappy BN MPs from the two states shows just how influential MPs from the two states can be when they use their minds.
Jeffrey pointed out that the people and their leaders in the two states needed to discard their old mentality of depending and relying on leaders from Malaya.
“With due respect to Tengku Razaleigh or better known as Ku Li who is not only eminently qualified and experienced to lead Malaysia and probably will do a better job as Prime Minister than many from Umno, he is in the wrong party and the wrong coalition.
“Furthermore, Umno today is not the old Umno and their current politics of exploitation of race and religion and playing up racism with double standards, one for Umno/BN and another for the opposition.,” he said.
Jeffrey slammed Najib for doing nothing to stop the plunge towards breakdown of racial harmony and being unable to censure the extremists in Umno leaders who have their own agenda which has nothing to do with nation-building.
BN is biased
He mocked the Prime Minister for failing to comment on Minister of Home Affairs Zahid Hamidi, who has asked the majority of Malaysians who did not vote for the Barisan Nasional to leave because they had not voted for the government.
“The BN coalition is not a true coalition but a grouping monopolised by Umno and with priority and biasness towards Malayan-based parties and neglecting Borneo parties.
“There can be no explanation other than pure bias for not giving ministerial positions to SPDP who have four MPs compared to MIC with four ministerial positions for all its four MPs or for Gerakan with its sole representative,” he said.
Jeffrey, who’s elder brother Joseph Pairin was booted out of office by the BN in 1994 and who has since rejoined his erstwhile enemies and been made deputy chief minister in the BN government, said BN’s 47 MPs in the two states could all leave the coalition but they would still not be able to help the opposition form the government without the four MPs from MIC and one from Gerakan.
However, he argued that “if the Sabah, Sarawak parties abandon BN without even joining Pakatan, there would be a change of the Umno/BN federal government.
“This point is not lost when Ku Li did not pass up the opportunity to meet with the Sabah and Sarawak MPs who are not only kingmakers but also hold the trump card to change the PM.
“That is the strength of Sabah and Sarawak in the current political equation in Malaysia,” he added.
Jeffrey also saw no necessity for Sabah, Sarawak MPs to be diplomatic let alone beg to be given ministerial positions.
He urged Sabah and Sarawak to just lay the cards on the table and openly demand for their rightful positions in the federal Cabinet.
MPs must safeguard Borneo
He said those ministerial positions are not the possessions of Umno or their Malayan counterparts but belong to the Borneo states as equal partners in Malaysia, more so when these seats are needed for Umno/BN to remain as the federal government.
“The MPs from Sabah and Sarawak need to realize that they have been elected by their own people and have a moral and legal obligation to safeguard and protect their homeland, Sabah and Sarawak, as well as to fulfill the legitimate expectations of their electorate.
“These obligations and expectations include the restoration of the rights and autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak, the return of the oil revenue and resources and to bring about development,” said Jeffrey.
Sabah and Sarawak, he said, need to ensure that for every ringgit spent on Malaya, a minimal equivalent ringgit is spent on Sabah and Sarawak and for every kilometre of road built in Malaya, another kilometre is built in Sabah and Sarawak.
He added that the basic amenities should also be upgraded within the next five years to bring them on par with Malayan standards.
“This minimal equivalent is already a big concession to Malaya considering the lop-sided development for the past 50 years and the RM35 billion oil revenue taken from Sarawak and another RM18 billion taken from Sabah yearly.”
He suggested that a better option for the MPs from Sabah and Sarawak is to abandon BN and to be united as a Borneo coalition and to forge a genuine partnership with their counterparts from Malaya to form the Malaysian federal government and not be dictated by Umno or their Malayan counterparts.
“There is no better alternative to a united Borneo alliance to safeguard the rights, autonomy and future of the Borneo States. (Only) then, the true spirit of the formation of Malaysia would be respected and the intentions of the founding fathers of Malaysia fulfilled,” Jeffrey added.
