Jeffrey: Borneo MPs can be third force in Parliament

Longtime Borneo rights activist urges MPs in Borneo to seize on their kingmaker status and serve the people by addressing issues like their lack of political power and control of local resources.

KOTA KINABALU: A longtime Borneo rights activist has called on all 57 MPs from Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan to work across the political divide and form a third force in the Malaysian Parliament to safeguard the rights of the people. “It’s not enough to ask only the 47 MPs from Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah and Sarawak to do something about the plight of the people in the two homelands. The 10 MPs from the Opposition in Borneo should join hands with the 47 MPs from BN.”

“The 57 MPs can even form a new government in Putrajaya tomorrow by working with 55 like-minded MPs from the peninsula.”

Bingkor assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan attributed the plight of his homeland Sabah, neighbouring Sarawak and Labuan to the lack of political power and the lack of control over local resources. “There should be a restructuring of political power and a restructuring of the allocation of resources. This is where the 57 MPs come in.”

“There are 11 Ministers and 10 Deputy Ministers from Sabah and Sarawak in the current Federal Cabinet, recognition of their kingmaker status.”

Jeffrey, who nearly ousted his elder brother Joseph Pairin Kitingan from the Keningau parliamentary seat in 2013 if not for PKR splitting votes, lamented that the MPs in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan were not seizing on the window of opportunity opened up by the 12th General Election in 2008. “This window has been open since 2008 when the politics in the peninsula split down the middle but the MPs have been sleeping on the job. They don’t seem to realize that they now enjoy kingmaker status. Instead, it’s every man for himself instead of working together with a common objective.”

“One reason may lie in the fact that many of the 57 MP seats are in fact held not by local political parties but peninsula-based outfits taking their orders from their political masters in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.”

Another reason, added the Star Sabah Chief, was the political reality that the MPs from local political parties are part of the peninsula-based ruling BN coalition helmed by Umno. “They can’t act without their political master in Putrajaya determining the agenda and dictating every move.”

Jeffrey was commenting on Emeritus Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi saying that the 57 MPs can make or break Putrajaya and Parliament and Opposition Parliamentary Leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail urging the 47 BN MPs to leave the ruling coalition.

He wonders why the MPs are in Parliament if not to serve the people. “Before 2008, the MPs had been isolated, neutralized and marginalized since the loss of their veto power in Parliament. Borneo is supposed to have a third of the seats plus one in Parliament. This meant that instead of having 57 MPs out of 222 MPs, Borneo should have 75 MPs.”

Despite having lost their veto status, added Jeffrey, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan have fortunately been “compensated” since 2008 by their MPs having kingmaker status. “The MPs should make use of this status to address the grinding poverty of the two states, the poorest in the Federation, the return of their Full Autonomy status and the Federal Government’s compliance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963, 20 Points (Sabah) and 18 Points (Sarawak).”