PENAMPANG: President of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee has issued a caution on the proposal to restore local government election in the country, for it may not necessarily yield the desired result.
Yong was speaking at a dinner held at a leading Chinese restaurant here on Thursday, in conjunction with the annual general meeting (AGM) of SAPP Kepayan.
The former chief minister cited the cases of The Philippines and Singapore, where despite having local government elections in the former, that country has yet to gain any desirable result whilst the latter without any, has one of the most efficient local governments in the region.
He was commenting on the proposal by Pakatan Rakyat to enact a law to hold the ‘third vote’ process to restore the suspended local government election in the country should it form the federal government – a proposal which was lauded by Sabah DAP leaders.
“This is a typical ‘parroting’ culture of our local leaders who are forever subservient to their federal political masters, without the capacity of any independent views of their own,” Yong quipped, adding that such a move may not be suitable for Sabah and that Sabah PR should not follow their central leaders blindly.
Yong also stressed that Sabah PR leaders must not be confused by the difference between ‘decentralisation’ and ‘autonomy’ and reiterated that all right-thinking Sabahans, and their leaders especially, should fight hard to regain their rightful autonomy, instead of talking about “decentralisation of power” which the Federal government can always rescind, at its whims and fancies.