Sabah ‘colonised’ by Malaya, says Jeffrey Kitingan ahead of Malaysia Day

Jeffrey Kitingan speaking at a forum on the status of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, in June. - The Malaysian Insider pic, September 15, 2014.Sabah’s presence in Malaysia will become meaningless if the federal government continues to dominate through its officers and agencies from the peninsula, Sabah opposition politician Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said in his Malaysia Day message.

Sabah had become “just a colony of Malaya” through the appointment of government officers, federal ministries, departments and agencies instead of allowing locals to fill these posts, the Bingkor assemblyman said.

"Sabah is slowly becoming a Malay unitary state of Malaya," said Kitingan, who is also chairman of Borneo Heritage Foundation.

He said Putrajaya had robbed Sabah of its independence, re-engineered the population and given political franchise to illegal immigrants.

Malaysia, he said, had become a “takeover project” through Umno, and through federal control of oil resources and tax revenues.

"Even our rights to visit and honour our Oath Stone, (Batu Sumpah) in Keningau has been denied to us. Do not brand us as trouble makers when we question what is wrong," he added.

A group of Sabah natives under the Jaringan Orang Asal Sabah had tried to hold a traditional ritual at the oath stone on August 31. The stone located within the premises of the Keningau District Office commemorates the 20-point agreement that protects Sabah’s rights as a member of Malaysia.

The state government had issued a directive to ban the group from holding the ritual near the stone.

Of late, Sabah has seen a rise in anger against the federal government over the erosion of rights and provisions in the Malaysia Agreement.

The Facebook group, Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia, has grown increasingly vocal about calls to secede from Malaysia in the run up to Malaysia Day, as long-standing issues such as unequal development, federal control over Sabah’s oil revenue and under-representation of Sabahans at senior levels of the federal service, come to a boil.

- TMI