Sabah PH: New deal about institutional reform, not personal agenda

Sabah Pakatan Harapan also rebukes Deputy Chief Minister Raymond Tan for his accusations against the intention of the opposition coalition’s leaders.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) has insisted that its “new deal” manifesto is about institutional reform and not a personal agenda as alleged by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Raymond Tan.

Tan yesterday said Sabah PH’s newly launched manifesto was not aimed at fighting for Sabahans’ rights but instead tried to erode the state’s special privileges.

Tan, who is also vice-president of Barisan Nasional (BN) component Gerakan, accused PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other leaders of planning to remove Sabah’s immigration powers, among others.

However, Sabah PH today slammed Tan’s “unfounded wild allegations against the new deal”.

In a statement, it said it also deeply regretted his “bad attitude” in not respecting Mahathir as a senior statesman.

“While Sabah PH agrees that we must defend all Sabah’s special rights and safeguards under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), we also believe that MA63 should be regarded only as our bottom line, not our final goal.

“In other words, Sabah PH believes that the state can do better than as envisaged under MA63, without denying the sanctity of MA63 in any way.”

Sabah PH said the new deal was a goal for Sabah to achieve real and meaningful autonomy, which would give the state the pertinent power, capacities and resources to govern itself and shape its own destiny.

The new deal was not just about autonomy in the narrow sense of “not having to take orders from Malaya”, it added.

“For example, under MA63, the main legislative jurisdictions originally reserved for the Sabah government are land, forest, agriculture, native law and customs, libraries, museums, local government and water.

“They are hardly the hallmarks of a modern nation and advanced economy capable of governing and developing itself.

“At the same time, most of the important legislative powers which would shape our own development, economy, well-being, unity and social justice, are all controlled by the federal government (even originally under MA63 and now, under the Federal Constitution), such as communications and transport (now 9th Schedule, Federal List, paragraph 10), education (now 9th Schedule, Federal List, paragraph 13), medicine and health (now 9th Schedule, Federal List, paragraph 14), labour and social security (now 9th Schedule, Federal List, paragraph 15) and tourism (now 9th Schedule, Federal List, paragraph 25A).

“Should any Sabahan in his right mind be satisfied with the minimalist state autonomy for Sabah on the one hand, and a dominant federal government, almost amounting to a unitary state in all but name, on the other?

“Or should we renegotiate for more state autonomy, not just confined to a limited framework under the present federal constitution or even the MA63 only?”

To do so meaningfully, it said, any discussions must involve a total reconsideration of Sabah’s place in the federation.

“In other words, it is time for a ‘new federation’ and a new kind of federalism. That’s why we need the new deal,” it said.

According to the statement, the elements in the new deal offered for Sabah include power sharing.

“Under power sharing, the appointment of a deputy prime minister from Sabah and Sarawak reflects the equal partner status for these two signatories to the MA63.

“Sabah should play a greater role in shaping her own as well as national policies. And the limitation to the chief minister’s tenure is important to prevent corruption.”

Another element in the new deal was more state autonomy, it added.

“Under this element, we aim to have education, health, transport, social safety and tourism under the state list or concurrent list.

“These are the important legislative powers which would shape our own development, economy, well-being, unity, and social justice, which are not solely controlled by the federal government.”

It said the manifesto also mentioned better revenue sharing.

“Fiscal decentralisation is the most important agenda for the whole exercise of devolution of power. Without resources, even the important legislative powers placed under the state would be conceded when there is no sustainable financial resource to maintain its administration.

“For example, health used to be Sabah’s own jurisdiction, but it was surrendered to federal in 1970 as Sabah was running out of finance resources.

“The new deal we offer to Sabah is 20% oil royalty and 50% revenue sharing. This offer is definitely better than provisions 112C and 112D, Part V, Schedule 10 in the Federal Constitution.” -FMT