HISTORIC DEAL FOR SABAHANS: DPM FROM SABAH OR S’WAK, AUTONOMY & MORE REVENUE IF HARAPAN WINS

Sabah Pakatan Harapan has promised that there will be a deputy prime minister from Sabah or Sarawak, greater autonomy and a bigger share of state revenue should the coalition come to power.

In terms of autonomy, Harapan pledged to ensure that the state will have full control over education, health, infrastructure and social security.

Harapan also pledged to increase the state’s share of the oil revenue to 20 percent from five percent presently.

The coalition will also ensure that Sabah and Sarawak would receive 50 percent of revenue which is currently being contributed to the federal government.

These were among the pledges made during the soft launch of the first phase of Sabah Harapan’s election manifesto at a hotel in Kota Kinabalu this afternoon.

Among those present at the launch were PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP acting chairperson Tan Kok Wai, Harapan Sabah chairperson Christina Liew, Sabah DAP chief Stephen Wong and Sabah Amanah chief Hamzah Abdullah.

Close to 400 people attended the event.

Sabah, an equal partner

The manifesto, presented as a video at the launch, was followed by a second video entitled “Beyond Autonomy” that showed Liew saying she wanted good governance, transparency and freedom from corruption on top of full autonomy for Sabah, making it on par with Peninsular Malaysia.

“Sabah is a territory of its own. We are clear about our identity.

“But despite being a rich state, our people remain very poor.

“Why do Sabahans need to continue tolerating being so poor after 54 years (since the formation of Malaysia)?” she asked in her opening speech.

Providing statistics, Wan Azizah said revenue collected from Sabah amounted to RM3.8 billion, far surpassing the RM2.05 billion collected from Selangor over the same period.

“And yet, 8.1 percent of Sabahans were reported as living under the poverty line in 2015, the highest percentage in the country,” she added.

Wong stressed that Harapan, as a national coalition, would be able to address pressing economic issues faced by Sabahans.

“This new manifesto shows our sincerity in implementing people-first policies.

“We want to make Sabah great again,” said the Sabah DAP chief.

MKINI