Sabah DAP chairman Stephen Wong says the issue of which party gets to rule the state is not over yet, urges the people to remain patient.
Sabah DAP chairman Stephen Wong. (Facebook pic)
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP chairman Stephen Wong today urged the party’s supporters to remain calm and not to take to the streets.
This was after a group of 400 people who gathered here last night to celebrate the swearing in of Dr Mahathir Mohamad became unruly following news that Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Musa Aman had also been sworn in as chief minister.
Wong said the party did not condone their actions and advised the people not to resort to street demonstrations which could make things worse than they already were.
“Let us work on it. We are still working hard and we will continue to work together with Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) and PKR. We fully support Warisan president Shafie Apdal to lead the charge in Sabah,” he said at a press conference here today.
Commenting on the choice by Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Jeffrey Kitingan to side with Sabah BN instead of Warisan and Pakatan Harapan (PH), Wong said he found it illogical that the veteran politician had chosen an opposition government over the PH government.
“It is illogical because for so many years, he said he is fighting for Sabah’s rights and all that. But suddenly now, he chooses Umno to ally with instead of a local party like Warisan.”
Wong said this decision would only hurt Sabah, especially as it would not be on the same page as the federal government anymore.
Wong, who is also Sandakan MP, said the PH manifesto promised many benefits for Sabah including 20% oil royalty, 50% return of net revenue collected by the federal government in the state and billions of ringgit every year for the state’s development projects.
On top of that, he said, the PH manifesto also promised to fully restore the terms of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) which Jeffrey had long fought for.
On the other hand, he said, the BN manifesto only promised to carry out the MA63 terms on “consensus”, which could not be defined as a commitment from the coalition.
Jeffrey was named one of three deputy chief ministers in the new Sabah Cabinet line-up announced by Musa last night.
However, his post may be short-lived as news broke that at least five BN assemblymen were defecting to Warisan and had been seen at Shafie’s house today.
If that happens and Musa fails to get the six nominated assemblymen sworn in today, Sabah will see the administration of its state government change hands from BN to the Warisan-PH coalition before the day is over. -FMT
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