Jeffrey: Malaysia is meaningless partnership

The Malaysia Agreement 1963 has been distorted as Sabah is not treated as an equal partner with the others.

KENINGAU: Bingkor Assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan warned Putrajaya on the eve of Malaysia Day that the Federation of Malaysia has degenerated into a unitary state to become a meaningless partnership.

“Sabah continues to be occupied by the presence and domination of officers from the peninsula,” said Jeffrey, who is also Star Sabah chief in a Malaysia Day message from Batu Sumpah (Oath Stone) here.

“Do not brand us as trouble makers when we point out what is wrong!”

He also said that the current situation in Sabah is a deviation and distortion of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, a constitutional document, the basis on which the Malayan and British Governments said that Sabah would be in Federation as an equal partner with the peninsula/Singapore and Sarawak.

He cited the recommendations by Lord Cobbold, the chairman of the Cobbold Commission in the Cobbold Commission report: “It is a necessary condition that, from the outset, Malaysia should be regarded by all concerned, as an association of partners, combining in the common to create a new nation but retaining their own individualities.”

Jeffrey added that Lord Cobbold further wrote: “If any idea was to take root that Malaysia would involve a ‘take over’ of the Borneo territories by the Federation of Malaya and the submersion of the individualities of North Borneo and Sarawak, Malaysia would not, in my judgment, be generally acceptable or successful.”

Lord Cobbold’s fears, continued Jeffrey, has been borne out over time.

“The Sabah and Federal Governments should put things right so that Malaysia would not be a failure as feared by Lord Cobbold,” he said.

Besides the disproportionate number of officers from the peninsula in Sabah, he called on both governments to look immediately into, among others, a meaningful share of the federal government for Sabah, the return of its oil and gas reserves, and equitable revenue-sharing.

“We must get back our political franchise which has been robbed from us and given to the illegal immigrants through population re-engineering,” said Jeffrey. “We must have the right to visit and honour Batu Sumpah on Malaysia Day.”

Batu Sumpah, a constitutional document carved in stone pledging the loyalty of the people in the interior to Malaysia, has three major points from the 20 Points which was an addendum to the Malaysia Agreement 1963: no religion in Sabah; land to be a Sabah Government matter; and the government to respect the culture, customs and traditions of the Orang Asal.