Warisan treasurer-general Terrence Siambun says the foreign minister has no influence within Umno and will be quickly replaced as minister.
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah treasurer-general Terrence Siambun has dismissed the pledge made by Foreign Minister Anifah Aman to leave Umno if Prime Minister Najib Razak fails to fulfil his promise to restore Sabah’s rights, as specified under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Anifah, who is also Kimanis MP, yesterday expressed his confidence that Najib would fulfil his promise to return Sabah’s rights.
“What is he talking about?” Siambun, who is also Moyog assemblyman, said in a statement today.
“Anifah is merely MP for Kimanis. He has no influence at all within Umno as he holds no elected post within the supreme council.
“Whether he resigns or not, Umno will continue with its day-to-day business.
“Anifah’s post as foreign minister will most likely be filled by one of Najib’s hardcore supporters, probably by (Upko vice-president) Marcus Mojigoh or (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) Rahman Dahlan.”
Siambun said Anifah should realise this as Najib had shown that he had no qualms suspending the Umno membership of Shafie Apdal, who was the then rural and regional development minister and Umno vice-president, after Shafie questioned Najib’s handling of the 1MDB issue.
Siambun said Anifah should instead have pledged that if Najib failed to restore Sabah’s rights, then he (Anifah) would request the voters in the parliamentary constituency of Kimanis and state assembly seats of Membakut and Bongawan to reject Barisan Nasional in the next general election.
“The full restoration and immediate implementation of MA63 has nothing to do with Anifah’s political future in Umno but relates to the dignity, special rights and privileges accorded to the state of Sabah,” Siambun said.
Siambun also advised Anifah not to be too overconfident on the issue.
“Sabahans have seen how some Sabah BN leaders threatened to pull out from the BN coalition because of the illegal immigrants’ issue and how some of them praised Najib when he finally announced the royal commission of inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah just before the last general election.
“But what happened to that RCI? It has been six months now since the last time the secretary-general of PBS, Johnny Mositun, told us that Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will be announcing the outcome of the inquiry and the permanent solutions. Yet, until now, we have not heard a thing.”
Siambun said since the general election was expected to take place soon, the government should implement in full all the terms of the MA63 and its annexes now, and not use the international treaty as a political tool.
Anifah had said he believed Sabahans would receive “good news” from Najib in the near future, especially on the claim of the state’s rights enshrined in the MA63.
He was confident the government would fulfil the promise made by the prime minister during his many visits to Sabah.
“As this is the promise of the prime minister, I have faith in Allah SWT, I believe in him. What’s important is for us to strongly support the leadership of Najib and Barisan Nasional,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
Anifah was commenting on the Sarawak government’s recent announcement on the claim of the state’s rights from the federal government.
He said Sabah was more likely to use consultation, dialogue and negotiation in voicing any claim, including on MA63 and so far the discussions had proceeded smoothly.
“What Sarawak gets, we can get but we have an advantage enshrined (in MA63) that we are entitled to 40% of Sabah’s revenue, which Sarawak does not have,” Anifah had said. -FMT
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