Jeffrey tells Sabahans to think local

The Election Commission must ensure that the security personnel in ESSZONE which encompasses 11 parliamentary and 30 state constituencies are not postal voters.

KOTA KINABALU: Maverick Sabah leader Jeffrey Kitingan has appealed to the voters in Sabah to unite to protect their homeland from further control and colonisation by Malaya through its local proxies and stooges and to take back Sabah in the coming general election.

Now leading the State Reform Party (STAR) as its chairman, Jeffrey stressed that the appeal is to the people of Sabah across the board, regardless of their ethnicity and religion and whether they were beneficiaries of “Project IC” or not.

“We also urge all Sabahans who are currently away from Sabah to fulfil their patriotic duty and return and cast their votes to safeguard their homeland from being taken over by outsiders,” he added.

The younger brother of former Sabah chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan said that his party was ready to face the election and that its manifesto and list of candidates were ready and would be announced at the appropriate time.

Jeffrey also reminded the Election Commission (EC) to carry out its duties impartially and in accordance with the requirements of the constitution.

He said the country’s election authorities must ensure all political parties are allowed fair access to the mainstream media as well as airtime, something that has never been acquiesced to by the government in the past.

“Certainly not acceptable is giving the opposition parties 10 minutes airtime and the remaining 23 hours and 50 minutes to the BN,” he said, repeating the worries of opposition parties which have criticised the mainstream media for their duplicity.

Jeffrey also stressed that the EC should ensure that all security personnel deployed in the newly created security area or ESSZONE which encompasses 11 parliamentary and 30 state constituencies must not become postal voters to vote in advance.

He said this was only appropriate since Sabahans have suffered long enough from their political franchise and voting rights over-ridden by “imported” or foreign voters and to be now further eroded by troops and police personnel from Malaya and Sarawak.