From left, Annie, Atama, Liew, Kathrine and Peter at the press conference.
KOTA KINABALU: Malayan-based parties should help and not compete with local parties in winning the election, says STAR Kota Kinabalu parliamentary candidate Michael Liew Hock Leong.
Liew, 59, said Malayan political parties should not have contested in both the parliamentary and state seats in Sabah in the first place.
This is because Sabah only has 26 parliamentary seats and a total of 56 parliamentary seats with Sarawak, which does not even make up one third of the parliamentary seats in Malaysia, he said.
“Forever we have been controlled by more than two-thirds of parliamentary seats over there (peninsular),” he said at a press conference to launch his campaign website here yesterday.
Liew said Sabah should be represented by local parties, adding that although PBS is a local party, its leader is based in Peninsular Malaysia.
He said the original concept of the formation of Malaysia was four nations coming together, namely Singapore, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak, and based on this concept, now without Singapore, Sabah should carry on as a nation and choose its own party or leaders.
Likewise, Malayan and Sarawak should choose their own party and leaders and the chosen ones would come together and form Malaysia, he said.
“But somehow along the way this has been hijacked, and we have to correct this.”
Liew added national parties, which he regarded as Malayan parties, did not play by the rules as the national parties take up many of the seats in Sabah.
“They just come in and say they want so many seats, and the local parties say okay. We don’t mind since you are a guest in our home, we don’t mind working together, but don’t take all.
“They say we are too greedy (for wanting more seats for local parties). I think they are greedy,” he said.
Liew said STAR’s manifesto, Borneo Agenda, was to get back Sabahans’ right to have at least one-third (representation).
“The original agreement was such that Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah must have more than one-third (representation) so that no one has absolute power.”
He said Sabah had probably many good politicians but they would lose out in voting in parliament.
“Especially now when we have Umno in Sabah, that shouldn’t be the case. Umno has 32 state seats, they control everything.”
He said the Chinese were made the third or fourth class citizen now while the Sino also received the same fate.
Liew urged Sabahans to take ownership of the State, saying that it was the people’s responsibility in choosing our own leader, the best party and the best leader here and work with the rest to form the Malaysian government.
“If you vote for STAR, and STAR wins, we can assure that we go back to our original arrangement.”
Liew added that STAR could collaborate with other local parties if they won in the election.
“Coalition government exists everywhere. If there is an opportunity we will collaborate but it’s best with a local party in Sabah.
“We must control the State Assembly.”
Liew is a supreme council member of STAR Sabah, chairman of its Luyang division and chairman of the STAR Chinese Task Force.
He is also a former Sabah chief of Malaysian Civil Liberty Movement (MCLM) and a founding member cum former deputy chairman of Demokrasi Sabah (Desah), a non-governmental group (NGO) pursuing for a one-to-one fight between the opposition parties and BN.
Prior to joining STAR Sabah, he was an active member in organizing and participating in civil rights activities such as Bersil 2.1 and 3.0 public rallies and the chief organizer for Kota Kinabalu’s Himpunan Hijau rally in the protest against Lynas plant in Pahang and public rally in Penampang in response to the Public Assembly Act last year.
Liew is contesting against BN-PBS’ Chin Tek Ming and DAP’s Jimmy Wong Sze Phin for the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat.
On why he joined politics, Liew said many political parties have their own agendas, but not many parties have agendas for civil liberty.
He said our country needed a strong civil society because without it, the government would have absolute power, which would also happen with opposition parties.
“We have a government today that is not acceptable to us and we vote for another one that would do the same thing.
“I think a strong civil society is the answer or solution to the problems of the country.”
On NGO’s involvement in politics, he said some NGOs were very active and brave but without proper policy, NGOs would always be suppressed.
“If I’m voted into parliament, I’ll fight for a policy that can help the NGOs.”
However, he pointed out that it was clear that Datuk Lajim Ukin’s Pertubuhan Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPPS) and Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing’s Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) have their own political agendas.
For more information on Liew and STAR’s Borneo Agenda, visit www.p172kk.com
Also present at the press conference were Liew’s wife Kathrine Jikinon Linjuan, brother Peter Liew, who is also STAR Luyang division deputy chairman, Liew’s sister Annie Liew and activist Atama Katama.