Dr Jeffrey Kitingan is teasing Sabahans with the idea of a Malaysia Borneo with Sabah and Sarawak having its own 'states' equal to those in Peninsular Malaysia
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is in a state of excitement over the possibility of Sabah and Sarawak forming its own Malaysia Borneo nation complete with five and seven states respectively.
United Borneo Alliance (UBA) chairman Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who is championing the proposal, admits its a ‘novel idea’ and that he may be seen as being too far ahead in his thinking.
“But I believe it will work. The idea needs to be introduced now. This is long overdue by almost half a century.
“I believe this will be a powerful turning point in the political paradigm of Sabah.
“But we have to deal with it (the idea) head on. If not now, when?”
Jeffrey said he has been discussing the matter with his State Reform Party (STAR) leaders in Sarawak who are also equally excited by the idea.
“Did you know that there is already a website called ‘Negara Sarawak’?.
“We are now thinking about creating five states in Sabah and seven states in Sarawak.
“That totals 12 states for the Malaysian Borneo, compared to eleven Malayan states!” he added.
‘We were an independent nation’
Jeffrey said it is high time that the idea of making Sabah a nation again is discussed, as a daring step towards regaining Sabah’s position which it had when it gained its independence from Britain on August 31, 1963.
“We were an independent country, a full-fledged nation. When we joined with Singapore, Malaya and Sarawak to form Malaysia we were still a nation. Unfortunately we eventually became one of the 13 unitary states in the federation.”
“Don’t forget that even our governor, the Tuan Yang Tertutama, was called ‘Yang diPertua Negara,’ which is also stated in the 20 Points.
“This alone proves Sabah was a ‘negara’, a nation,” he said.
He said that the UBA was in the midst of refining the definitions of this new idea.
“We have more or less agreed to a rough proposal to make Sabah a nation, with five states.
“Our state boundaries will roughly follow the old boundaries for the state residencies which we had during the British rule,” Jeffrey said.
He said that one of the proposed states will be the present district of Keningau which is so big that it can even swallow the whole of Melaka, Penang and Perlis combined.
“This will be a way to make a clear stance on our rights and autonomy, and the best way to define our position within the federation.
JK had the chance to exact change when he was in the Government in the past but instead he did nothing.
ReplyDeleteJK was one of the leaders in the 1980s who had held positions in the Government for about 16 years but did nothing to change problems he said was plaguing Sabah at the moment.
But he did nothing, just jumped and jumped parties.
JK in Sabah politics via the Star is only aimed at dividing the opposition. JK might have a hidden agenda. JK was a very strong figure in the opposition but suddenly joined Star, a local-based party from Sarawak
ReplyDeleteJefrey daru dulu suka lompat parti, perjuangannya seperti tak ada pendirian. kini dah masuk Star, nak jalin kerjasama dgn parti lain tapi nak bertanding semua kerusi, entah apa agenda Jeffrey ni?
ReplyDelete