ONLY NOW SABAH IMPORTANT TO BN

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) on Thursday described the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that Sabah is very important to the Barisan Nasional (BN) as aiming to woo Sabahans.

Its Secretary-General, Datuk Richard Yong We Kong, said there is a vast change in tone to Muhyiddin's statement when previously BN leaders described Sabah as their 'Fixed Deposit'.

On this, he said that Sabah has been taken for granted in so many ways.

"Has Sabah become important to the BN only when they need Sabah to hold on to power? Is Sabah also so important because they need Sabah's resources to develop other states while leaving Sabah the poorest State in the nation?" he asked.

"What about the welfare of the people, the social economic problems, the illegal immigrants and backwardness in terms of development?

Are these not important to the Federal leaders? They have neglected all these crucial issues which are affecting the livelihood and security of Sabah people".

He said Federal leaders have been coming here almost on a weekly basis because they realise that Sabah is an extremely crucial factor to enable BN to hold on to power in Putrajaya.

"But have they shown any genuine sincerity for the past 50 years?" he further asked.

Yong said it is only when the political tsunami had struck that BN realised that they needed Sabah and Sarawak to cling on to power and hence started to treat Sabah as important to them.

On this, he said, it is a golden opportunity for people here to restore the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement that gave Sabah equal rights in the political decision-making by supporting local-based opposition parties.

By electing the local-based opposition parties, he said, the people are assured of Sabah's political autonomy and fair distribution of wealth and development including responsiveness to the needs of the people.

At the same time, he said, if the opposition were to form the next government, the people would be also assured that the position of Sabah as a partner in Malaysia would be upheld and that it would not be controlled and manipulated by peninsula-based parties. (DE)