“Recognize Sabah as Nation...." Jeffrey Kitingan

The following is taken from the Press release sent to the press and to this blog by the State Reform Party of Sabah (STAR) it is the Statement of the Chairman of the party Mr. Jeffrey Kitingan.

The anger of the people of Sabah and for that matter East Malaysia is getting stronger, the Federal government together with its lackeys the BN MP's are actually promoting ignorance to the people of Sabah, Sarawak and even West Malaysia so that they can go on and do as they please and feed untruths and half truths to these ignorant people to stay on in power.

Development has long bypassed the two Eastern states and even Kelantan, to this day Sabah and Sarawak lack proper infrastructure, roads highways and even schools, they schools which they even dare to show as part of their propaganda campaign reveal the degree of underdevelopment in these states. 

Money that shoudl have gone into development fro the people haws been squandered in grand palns that enriched the lackeys of the BN, they have treated land and other property as their own, loans to BN parliamentarians and their spouses for dubious businesses, and commissions by fronting Companies owned jointly by ministers and even their spouses  in mega deals  to purchase armaments, including submarines and the rest are common place. Nothing has been spent in real development  in these states.

Even though these states provide the the Barisan their victories in the Peninsular, no significant minster has come out of these states. When Jeffry Kitingan once asked Mahathir when a Sabahan would become Prime Minister the mamak ran wild and mad. We came together in 1963 to date we are yet to see a Prime Minister or even a deputy Prime Minster from that state, they are Bumiputeras too, are there criteria to exclude these bumiputera?

it is high time the people of the East realised it and realised that their interests are not at all being served by the barisan Government, the few that have realised it feel its time to even part company, because some of the fundamental parts of the initial agreement made between the Malaya and the States of Sabah and Sarawak have been unilaterally broken by the UMNO led government of Malaysia.

We attach Jeffery's statement below.

“Recognize Sabah as Nation for Better Security, Development - Jeffrey”

Kota Kinabalu:     “PM Najib must do more for Sabah and Sarawak and recognize both entities as nations in Malaysia and not just do piece-meal patching to resolve long standing security, development and welfare issues.  Just like patching up the pot-holes of the roads in Sabah, it will not be sustainable and will not resolve the problems in Sabah”said DatukDr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to the PM’s focus on the three aspects announced over the weekend in Kota Kinabalu.

The still on-going chronic shortage of diesel in Sabah is a very good example of piece-meal patch-work solution.  While the just announced request for an additional 8 million litres diesel quota may help clear the queues at petrol stations, it did not resolve the long term problem.

The Government’s own excuse of diesel smuggling just exposes the weaknesses of the inefficiency and shortcomings of ESSZONE and ESSCOM.  Theoretically, there should be no smuggling if the ESSZONE patrolling is effective.  If diesel can escape detection, one fears for the safety of Sabahans when it comes to illegals coming and going into Sabah.  

If the diesel shortage is due to additional demand arising from increased productivity and production, it should have been projected and adequate supplies provided to cover for the additional demand as the shortages is not new but a frequent occurrence.

The Sabah government and its leaders should emulate their cousins from Sarawak and reject verbal announcements by the Federal leaders and insist on written approvals.  More often than not, these announcements are nothing more than announcements when these federal leaders go back to Kuala Lumpur.  For example, after promising to build the Labuan bridge during the PRU-13 election campaign, the federal leaders are now singing a different tune that the BarisanNasional only promised to undertake a study into the feasibility and benefits of the Labuan bridge and did not actually promise to build it.  

If this is part of the “JanjiDiTepati” BN Manifesto, Sabah will remain and continue to remain the poorest State despite its abundant natural resources particular oil and gas.

The problems of under-development and welfare of Sabahans especially being the poorest in Malaysia needs an overhauled holistic approach.   The under-development and poor infrastructure and lack of basic amenities is compounded by the sheer size of Sabah, which is equivalent to the size of 9 States in the Peninsular, and the treatment of Sabah of a far-flung colony of Malaya and its resources and wealth taken back “home” to fund its development.

The PM must firstly recognize and help to strengthen the delivery capacity of the Sabah government and remember that Sabah is a nation in Malaysia and not equal to tiny Perlis (Sabah is 90 times the size of Perlis) or the other Peninsular states.

Along with this recognition, the Federal government must return 40% of the net revenues collected from Sabah and be transparent about these collections.   Revenues of Petronas, multi-national petroleum companies and other corporate entities which derive their profits from Sabah should be acknowledged as revenues from Sabah. 

Whether it is RM40 billion or RM4 billion collected a year, 40% of the net revenues should be returned to Sabah?  There are no excuses!  This additional revenue for the Sabah government will improve the economy of Sabah by leaps and bounds and help alleviate and reduce the poverty levels of the people.

The Federal BN government should stop holding the Sabah government and Sabahans to economic ransom and to be bought and used every 5 years come election time.   Sabahans must also wake up to face this reality and not accept RM200 bribes and BN’s “TangkiBiru 1-Malaysia” in return for their precious votes.

If Najib is serious and sincere in developing Sabah and helping Sabahans, he should dismantle the parallel “federal-linked” government in Sabah and return the governance of these departments and affairs to the Sabah government.  

At the same time, Najib should establish a high level Borneo Affairs Commission or a Sabah Sarawak Commission or even a Ministry to address the issues and problems in Sabah and Sarawak.

There can be no better time than 2013, which marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia, which will go towards in a small way to fulfil the intentions of the founding fathers of Malaysia.

The MPs from Sabah and Sarawak also need to take the cue and demand that their homelands, Sabah and Sarawak, be treated fairly and justly by the Federal government in terms of development and welfare assistance and should no longer accept crumbs.  After all, someRM40 billion and RM18 billion in oil revenues were taken from Sarawak and Sabah respectively in 2012.

DatukDr.Jeffrey Kitingan

Chairman

STAR Sabah

28 July 2013

Jonker Wlak No surprise

Now that UMNO has indeed started it s invasion of Jonker Walk is it any surprise, this blog highlighted the issue way back in December of 2011.

An UMNO invasion of Jonker walk is a reality, the writer had even highlighted this to some of the Jonker street businessmen and as UMNO begins to crawl in the businesses of Jonker street has to be vary of their designs.

Jonker street is not just a tourist attraction, it is not just a business street it is heritage, it was heritage and no quarter int he country shoudl be allowed to just march in and do what they like with what is after all heritage.

The beginnings of the invasion were witnessed with the establishment of UMNO related investments in the area,  whilst it was not seen as an obvious threat it were the first indications that there were designs for that area.

Jonker street does not enjoy the privileges of Jalan Tengku Kelana in Klang, traffic in Tengku Kelana seems to have absolute immunity from the authorities, it is seen as a, "fixed deposit" zone by umno so traffic can take up an entire lane for parking although it is a main road leading to one of the main bridges in town connecting one part of Klang to the other, illegal parking is the order of the day in Tengku Kelana and it is becoming so again in Brickfields another "fixed deposit" enclave right at the doorstep of Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

All three Tengku Kelana, Brickfields and Jonker walk are indeed Malaysian icons, the tolerance practiced in one must be accorded to the other, as these areas iconic, they represent the country Malaysia.

To rob Jonker street of what  has already been established, an to take away the glamour of the district that has already been created just as political revenge is nothing less than mere gangsterism.

Jeffrey Kitinglan releases the figures

When will Sabah have the good roads West Malaysia has?

When will Sabah have the great infrastructure we have buit in the West with Eastern money?

What has happened to the billions of ringgit taken from Sabah, has the Barisan Government become another colonial power raping that state and its people of their legitimate  riches? 

Has the Barisan government sold the rights of ethnic Sabahans to  the people of Suluks as the RCI has discovered?

Jeffrey Kitingan has come out press statement asking the questions and we publish the same here for your reading.

“Tell the Truth or Be Investigated - Jeffrey”

Kota Kinabalu:     “The Inland Revenue Board should be truthful about the tax revenues collected in Sabah rather than trying to cover up the truth just because Sabah is now claiming its constitutional share of this revenues” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to front-pages stories that only RM4 billion federal tax collection was targeted by the IRB from Sabah in 2013 and not RM40 billion as reported earlier.

The RM40 billion was initially announced by the IRB Sabah and they appear to be back-tracking as if to attempt a cover-up now that Sabah is entitled to two-fifths (40%) of the net revenue collected from Sabah.

The Sabah government must do more and investigate into the matter and not be side-tracked by accepting whatever is being pushed down all the time from Kuala Lumpur.  It is the duty and responsibility of the Sabah government, first and foremost, towards the State and the people of Sabah not the political masters from Malaya.

Just looking at several preliminary figures, there appears to be basis for an amount of more than RM4 billion.   Petronas takes RM17.88 billion from Sabah’s oil and gas.   What about the major oil companies producing oil and gas from Sabah?   Sabah takes about RM1.1 billion in oil palm levies.  Sabah produces about 35% of Malaysia’s crude palm oil output and in 2012 Malaysia’s palm oil export earnings posted a value of RM71.3 billion with RM73 billion targeted for 2013.  Government-linked Sime Darby Berhad has 54,278 hectares of plantations while Felda has some 306,000 acres in Sabah.  Many public listed plantation companies have most of their plantations in Sabah.  Even Yayasan Melaka and Yayasan Selangor have palm oil plantations in Sabah!

Whether it is RM4 billion or RM40 billion, Sabah is still entitled to its legitimate 40% share!  

Even assuming the lower figure, 40% of RM4 billion will increase Sabah’s budget by RM1.6 billion, a whopping 43% increase, and which will help the Sabah government and contribute to the well-being of Sabahans. 

The issue of linking this 40% entitlement with federal allocations is fully of idiocy and stupidity. Firstly, it shows that Sabah BN leaders do not prioritize Sabah but the federal/BN government, secondly, that they are not acting in the best interests of Sabah and Sabahans.  Thirdly, it seems that they are more interested in bowing to their political masters from Malaya and protecting their party’s interests and their interests and positions which will be jeopardized if they go against the wish of their political masters and finally, they are just accepting whatever is being shaft down their throats without thinking and evaluating what needs to be done from the perspective of Sabah.

It also lends credence to the saying by people that Sabah BN leaders are remote-controlled by their masters in Kuala Lumpur/Putrajaya.

Its just over 1 month after being elected by Sabahans in the general elections and the Sabah BN leaders are already forgetting about the interests of Sabah and its people.  The people should seriously whether these leaders ought to continue to represent them or be booted out.

On the other hand, the Sabah BN leaders also fail to recognize that it is the duty and responsibility that the federal government to raise and provide development allocations.  Tiny Perlis and other States without much revenue are still entitled to its development allocations but it does mean that Sabah should be deprived of their allocations.

If the federal government feels that Sabah is a liability and is so difficult to reimburse Sabah’s entitlement and also to provide development allocations, it should just allow Sabah to go free and allow Sabah to manage its own revenue and resources.  There is no in point keeping Sabah which is a burden given that the federal government has got a national debt in excess of RM508 billion.

                                                                                                         

Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan

Chairman, STAR Sabah