STAR’S DIRECTION IS CRYSTAL CLEAR

“STAR Sabah’s direction is crystal clear and the clearest amongst all the parties in Sabah. STAR Sabah seeks the restoration of Sabah as 1 of 3 equal partners in Malaysia and its struggle is made clear with the Borneo Agenda and its 7 core demands” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to Lajim’s statement published in the Daily Express yesterday.

Unlike the recent remarks by a Sabah Umno leader, Sabah and Sarawak are not equal to the States in Peninsular and, more importantly, Sabah and Sarawak did not join Malaysia as the 12th and 13th States.

“If Lajim is not clear and does not understand the direction and struggle of STAR for Sabah, he is most welcome to attend any of the presentations during the Borneo Tea Parties that are held throughout the entire State,” added Dr. Jeffrey.

The struggle of STAR for Sabah is well understood even in the rural and remote parts of Sabah and that is why the people are flocking to support STAR. Sabah and Sarawak are now the kingmakers and our lawmakers need to leverage on this unique window of opportunity to demand the restoration of Sabah’s rights, autonomy and constitutional safeguards.

In fact, since 2008 if the lawmakers in Sabah and Sarawak were to switch camps, it will result in the change of the Federal government in Putrajaya. If they were to demand for the restoration of Sabah and Sarawak’s rights and autonomy including a review of the oil revenue sharing with Petronas, the Barisan Nasional government will have to accommodate these demands lest they wish to be changed to be the opposition in Parliament and allow a change of government.

The window of opportunity for Sabah and Sarawak to leverage on their role as kingmakers will remain and unlikely to be changed in the forthcoming 13th general elections.

STAR Sabah will even seek the restoration of Sabah as an autonomous nationhood state within Malaysia. Our TYT will be restored as the Yang Di Pertua Negara and Sabah will be divided into 5 administration regions similar to the old residencies to spearhead and expedite development and growth.

Reforms will introduced to revamp the system of government and administration to advance Sabah as a safe, autonomous and progressive nation-state contributing positively to the overall progress of Malaysia.

The outflow of revenue collected from Sabah to the Federal government and the collection of 95% of Sabah’s oil revenue are key demands under the Borneo Agenda. It is nothing new as we have been explaining them to the people since 2 years ago.

Neither is any expertise needed from Pakatan on the 'loss' of these revenues, some RM15 billion in oil revenues and RM22.7 billion in revenue collected from Sabah for 2011 as these are actual facts.

The problem is the Umno/BN Federal government refuses to acknowledge the status of Sabah under the Malaysia Agreement as an equal partner to Malaya and entitled to its revenue collections. The problem is compounded by the refusal and inaction of the Umno/BN government to correct the injustice done to Sabah.

Many of our Sabah leaders are mere stooges and proxies of Kuala Lumpur leaders. These Sabah leaders, no longer have the heart and desires to fight for the special rights and position of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia.

If Lajim is still unclear, he is most welcome to discuss with me or any of our divisional leaders who are all well versed with STAR’s direction and the Borneo Agenda.

It appears that Lajim and Bumburing are still unclear about how to go about with their direction and struggle for Sabah. Under the Pakatan manifesto, it pledges to:-

“Restore autonomy to Sabah and Sarawak in line with and within the framework of the Federal Constitution and the Federation Agreement”.

The autonomy pledged by Pakatan is no different with that now under Umno/BN regime as under the present Federal Constitution, Sabah is 1 of 13 states in Malaysia.

If Lajim finds it in his heart to defend the position of Sabah as an equal partner of 3 entities with its own autonomy and special rights, he should work with STAR and join our struggles to restore these rights and not fall into the same trap as before with the politics and agenda of Malaya parties. - Sabahkini