KOTA KINABALU – PKR’s Rafizi Ramli today took his campaign for the party’s deputy presidency to Sabah, telling members in the state that Sabah would get better treatment under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim.
Rafizi, who has openly said that he was vying for the number two post to ensure Anwar is not sidelined by the current government, said he would work hard for Putrajaya to recognise Sabah and Sarawak as entities of the Malaysian federation, rather than being considered as among its 14 states.
“For so long Sabah has been sidelined by Barisan Nasional,” Rafizi told a programme with Sabah PKR members today.
“It is important to ensure that Putrajaya respects Sabah, to ensure Sabah is one of three and not one of 14 states in Malaysia,” he said.
Rafizi said giving equal status for Sabah and Sarawak under Malaysia was more important than appointing deputy prime ministers from the two states as promised by PKR.
“To me this is more important than the promise of the DPM seats,” he said.
“That means the funds, attention and powers should be restored in line with the status. When that is achieved, then i think there is no problem for the prime minister to appount a deputy from Sabah,” Rafizi said. -FMT
Rafizi dangles DPM carrot before Sabah PKR
EAST Malaysians hoping to see one of their own in the deputy prime minister’s office will first have to wait for Malaysians on the peninsula to be convinced of Sabah and Sarawak’s equal partner status, PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli said.
He said Sabah was one of the three partners in the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, and not merely one of the 13 states and three federal territories.
“Allow me to be elected as the party deputy president first and I will return to West Malaysia and convince my fellow West Malaysians of the rightful status of Sabah,” he told about 1,500 PKR members in Kota Kinabalu, tonight.
He was responding to a question from the floor about the the deputy prime minister’s post.
Rafizi and his running mates are in Sabah on the “#Reformasi 20 Tahun” tour and the launching of a special fund for his campaign.
They were in Sandakan and Tawau yesterday.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) had mentioned filling the deputy prime minister’s post with a candidate from Sabah and Sarawak during its campaign in the general election, but had abandoned the idea upon winning power.
Rafizi today said as the East Malaysian states were equal partners to Malaya, the revenue channeled to Sabah must be commensurate with its status.
Rafizi said under the previous regime, Sabah was mistreated and that all the funds meant for the development of the state did not reach the target.
For example, he said, Tawau which he visited yesterday was the third largest township in Sabah yet it had not progressed and was backward.
He said some towns far smaller than Tawau in West Malaysia had far better roads and infrastructure.
“Let all of the allocation, wealth and status (be returned to East Malaysian states) first and then East Malaysians can step up to hold the deputy prime minister post,” he said. – https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/
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Totally agreed with Rafizi. We must respect the MA63 agreement. Sabah is definately 1 if 3 not 1 of 14 unless all of us is so stupid and uneducated to distirt fact like Rahman Dahlan,Salleh Said Keruak,Pandikar Amin and most if not all the opposition in Sabah.
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