KOTA KINABALU: Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing has described the suggestion by former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh for the Malaysian Government to pay RM200 million to the Sulu Sultanate as absurd and ridiculous.
“How could one ever think of paying such a huge amount of money to a foreign entity while our people, Sabahans for that matter, have been labeled as being the poorest in Malaysia by the world bank?
“The only reasonable action the government should take is one that would decisively end this stand-off and restore the confidence of the people in the capability of our federal government to defend our sovereignty as an independent State within the Federation of Malaysia as enshrined in our constitution and which was part of the guarantee and assurance given to Sabah under the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” Tuaran member of parliament uring said in a statement yesterday.
According to him, Harris may have a point in his mind if this is referred to the so-called ‘cession money’ being paid by the government.
“But you don’t just come out with a statement like that without any consideration taken with regards to the people of Sabah. The federal government reacted swiftly in blocking the entry of an Australian Senator, an honourable member of the Australian Senate, who attempted to enter Malaysia for what the federal government terms as security threat.
“However, the government remains indifferent towards more than 100 armed intruders who have defiantly entered our land and posed a real threat to the security of the country,” Bumburing opined.
He stressed that every Malaysian, especially Sabahans including Harris, should show their real concern towards the independence and sovereignty of our country and every effort should be taken to defend our freedom from any foreign intrusion.
The disunity and infighting among the people of the southern Philpipines have been going on for decades which have displaced thousands of their citizens to the extent that their plight has reached the shores of Sabah and affected our people.
Historically, the claim over Sabah by the Sultan of Sulu must be looked at and examined from two perspectives. Firstly, on the 24th April 1962, the Sulu Sultanate surrendered their sovereignty over all the Sulu archipelagos to the Philippines Government meaning they no longer have any right to any of the territory, Bumburing pointed out.
This instrument was thereafter followed by the Philippines Government as the basis of their claims to Sabah which is being resolved on a diplomatic level.
Secondly, in the same year the people of Sabah in a referendum carried out have decided to go for independence through the formation of Malaysia and this decision was accepted and approved by the United Nations.
The stability, security and the sovereignty of Sabah as an independent State within Malaysia must be respected by all sides including the Sultan of Sulu and the well-being of the people of Sabah must be upheld and defended at all cost, he opined.
Meanwhile in Penampang, UPKO president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said that Harris’ suggestion was baseless as Malaysia is a sovereign country.
“All these issues have been settled when Malaysia was formed in 1963 so there is no such claim exists,” the Penampang Member of Parliament said when met after officiating at the ‘Pesta Kraf, Makanan dan Minuman Tradisional Daerah Penampang 2013’ yesterday.