KOTA KINABALU: Sabah and Sarawak should capitalize on their position as kingmakers in the coming general election to push for the right formula at federal level, said State Reform Party (STAR).
Its Sabah Chapter chairman, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, said Sabah and Sarawak have the unique opportunity to reinstate themselves as independent nations and equal partners in the federation of Malaysia in accordance with the true spirit of the Malaysia Agreement.
“We need to leverage this for the good of the country, not for the party or for the good of individuals. I would like the leaders and the people to understand this. Don’t play around with the concept of kingmaker,” he said.
According to Jeffrey, although the two states were already kingmakers, in particular during the 2008 election, they have yet to capitalize nor benefit from this potential.
Even sadder, he said, a lot of people were not just suspicious but politicized the negative aspect of being the kingmaker.
He added that leaders in Sabah and Sarawak have been in the politics of ‘divide and rule’ for so long that most of them seemed no longer able to see beyond this particular arena.
“I notice that the leaders are unable to see things anymore, their mind is not thinking. So, it’s faster to get the people first, to get them to understand and then the leaders will catch up.
“If you begin with the leaders, first of all they will shut their mind, they are not receptive. That’s why we begin with the people, the young people especially, and from there we will be able to influence the leaders,” he said.
Sabah and Sarawak, he stressed, must appreciate and fully leverage their potential as kingmakers come the election to regain their status as equal partners with Malaya.
Towards this, he said the people in Sabah and Sarawak should understand that this time around they have to unite outside the existing political frame controlled by peninsular-based parties.
The people, he said, must start to think outside the box to take charge of their future in Malaysia.
“Inside the box of Barisan, Umno controls you and inside the box of Pakatan Rakyat, PKR may control you. So we need to be outside the boxes; we want to be independent to make our own stand and to work with them, not under them.
“This means that if we have a choice, we should choose the right one, the right one being those who restore our rights, give back our oil and solve our problems.
“If both of them are 50-50, both of them offer the same thing, we would choose for change, most likely Pakatan, to work with them not subservient but equal partners to change the country,” he said.
He said Sabah and Sarawak should push for more parliamentary seats to have more decision making power in parliament as currently we are at a disadvantage with about two-thirds of parliamentary representation currently concentrated in Peninsular Malaysia.
“It is so unfair now. For example, Keningau, my area, is almost 4,000 sq km. I can put three Semenanjung states, namely Perlis, Penang and Malacca inside Keningau with still plenty of room left, ‘longgar lagi’.
“But Keningau is only one parliamentary seat, two DUN, one district officer while in the three states on the other hand, there are 83 DUN, 26 parliamentary seats, three Menteris Besar, two Sultans and one governor.
“If it is not even fair to compare the three states with Keningau, how do you imagine the whole Sabah being compared to say Perlis? The service in Sabah is the same as in Perlis because they regard Sabah as just one of the 13 states.
“So, this is what I mean we need to do justice to Sabah. Don’t downgrade Sabah. Sabah is equal to the whole Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, not just the states in Peninsular,” he said.
In this regard, he said it was also important for the people to understand why Pakatan or other Semenanjung-based parties should concentrate in Peninsular Malaysia and leave Sabah seats to local parties.
“National parties must give a chance to local parties to contest seats meant to represent Sabah and Sarawak, otherwise it would mean they are not sincere in respecting the autonomy of the two states.
“They already have 165 parliamentary seats to contest, about 75 per cent of what is available. In Sabah there are only 25 seats. Why do you want everything?
“We don’t want them to operate in the same manner like Umno in the name of national politics, you want to grab everything for your own agenda.
“We want genuine cooperation, working side by side as partners, not as subservient partner but equal partner,” he said.