Shafie slams ‘insensitive’ Philippines 13th state idea

Sabah chief minister says the proposal may be an election gimmick by Philippine politicians.

Shafie Apdal says there is no legal foundation to any Philippines’ claim on Sabah. (Bernama pic)

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal has branded as unwise and uncalled-for a Philippine politician’s idea to include Sabah as the republic’s 13th state.

“We are all members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean). We must be sensitive when it comes to certain issues involving each other’s countries,” he said to reporters today.

Shafie said it was an open secret that the people of Sabah voted to form Malaysia in 1963 and the Philippines knew this fact well.

There should not be any question on the legality of Sabah’s partnership in the formation of Malaysia.

“I was very young at the time but I remember I followed my mother to town during the referendum and we all shouted ‘yes’, we want to form Malaysia,” he recalled.

Shafie said the legal matter had been resolved and the Philippines had no legal foundation to their claim on Sabah any more.

“This is our state, our land. It is done,” he said.

He did not deny the possibility that the proposal was put up as political ammunition by certain people in the Philippines.

“Elections might be coming there. So, this is why they are using the issue to attract the support from their voters. This is part and parcel of their politics,” he said.

On Tuesday, Aquilino Pimentel Jr, a member of a consultative committee to review the 1987 Philippines Constitution, had said the committee would find a way, acceptable under the international laws, to assert the Philippines’ claim to Sabah.

Shafie pledges action against illegal loggers

On another matter, Shafie said the Sabah state government is to take firm action against illegal loggers after more than 40,000 logs worth RM60 million were confiscated by police in several forest reserve areas in the state this month.

Shafie said: “This is a very serious issue and action must be taken so that there will be no more leakage of our resources.

“This should have been done a long time ago. Because nothing was done to address this problem, Sabah has lost billions in revenue over the years,” he said.

On Wednesday, Shafie revealed that a task force under the Chief Minister’s Department had found a dozen or so companies, including public-listed companies, who breached the state’s forestry law by logging illegally and failed to pay taxes on logs.

Several police reports have been lodged against these companies. - FMT