Jeffrey: Sabah no longer safe

The Sabah STAR leader believes that the invasion of Lahad Datu by 'foreign forces' is a prelude to a reconfiguration of political power in the state and region.

PENAMPANG: The reverse takeover of Sabah, a situation forewarned by local politicians where immigrants gradually take political and economic control of the state, is not as far-fetched as it seems, says Jeffrey Kitingan.

The Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) leader believes that the invasion of Lahad Datu by ‘foreign forces’ is a prelude to a reconfiguration of political power in the state and region.

“It is only a question of time if nothing is done urgently to beef up security of the state,” he said here, citing the huge presence of foreigners in the state coupled with the armed intrusion by an ‘army’ from Sulu as a tipping point.

“We seem to have no more security as a state in the federation although we formed Malaysia together with the assurance of military security. Now Sabah is no longer safe with the intrusion of the army of the Sultan of Sulu in Lahad Datu,” he said.

He questioned the easy entrance of such a large group of people into Sabah despite the presence of the navy and marine police, the intelligence units and the other security forces which had been assembled and deployed in the state at great cost.

“Today, the threat to our security is not just physical but also in politics where we are also no longer safe with the illegal immigrants who have been given ICs and the right to vote.

“If the federal government cannot guarantee us security, we the citizens of Sabah need to do something to ensure the security of Sabah. One important idea espoused by STAR is the establishment of the Sabah Homeland Security, Immigration and Registration (authorities) when we come to power,” he said.

“Sabah is ours, our future is in our hands and we cannot depend on outsiders nor Sabahans who have become stooges and proxies of outsiders,” he said after welcoming 163 leaders and members of the now defunct Sabah People’s Front (SPF) into STAR on Sunday.

He pointed at SPF as an example of how its supporters and members lost their political platform when it was taken over by a Sarawak group and its name was changed to Sarawak Workers’ Party.

Among the 163 former SPF leaders who joined Jeffrey’s STAR were Joseph Lusin Balangan, the former SPF treasurer general who was also the chief co-ordinator for Papar parliamentary constituency and Kawang state constituency, Jefry Kumbang (Tenom) and Elzear Maggin (Tuaran), state constituency co-ordinators Doris alom (Bongawan) the SPF Women’s Movement chief, Chok Yit Min (Apas), Bidin Jawa (Sulabayan), Wilfred Kilos (Moyog), Kundian Durasim (Tamparuli), Rain Stibin (Karambunai), Tony Foo (Tg. Aru) and Lee John (Matunggong).

Positive implications

Lusin, speaking for the group, said that SPF had 37,000 members throughout the state and they had identified 18,400 who want to join STAR.

Jeffrey also commended the group for having taken the bold step to join his party and continue their political struggle to champion Sabah’s rights.

“Their joining STAR has many positive implications. They first of all are saying to the people of Sabah and other local political parties that they have to unite in order to build up our strength to demand for the rights of Sabah.

“They appreciate that Sabah is our country and together we will march forward to face the various problems and challenges. Sabah has lost its autonomy and independence, continues to lose its natural resources which are being siphoned out of Sabah.

He said the amount totalled RM24.7 billion in 2012 alone while revenue from petrol extracted from the state was RM18 billion last year but the state only got RM4 billion.

“What a tragedy to know that Sabah is so rich but the people are so poor,” he said and mocked the announcement by the government that Sabah’s poverty had been reduced as “strangely the people don’t feel any of it”.

“They keep losing the right to their lands and deprived of the NCR to the point that they have to collect money and go up and down the courts to fight for their rights just because they are living in the forest reserves which they have been in long before the areas were converted into forest reserves,” he said.