KOTA KINABALU : The Sabah Indigenous Peoples Organisation (Pertubuhan Orang Asal Sabah – POAS) has come out in support of call for Huguan Siou Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan to be the next TYT for Sabah.
This is stated by POAS President, Alix Sunggin in brief statement today.
Alix says Pairin being a Sabahan indigenous person and having served in various capacity for Sabah including that of Sabah Chief Minister, Pairin is truly qualified to be Sabah’s next TYT.
“Pairin is indeed qualified to be our next TYT having served in various important capacity including being the Chief Minister for Sabah for almost ten years.” Alix said. “Pairin is also the first Sabahan from the KDM community to graduate as a lawyer and have helmed the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA), the largest indigenous-based cultural association in Sabah, if not in Malaysia, since the early eighties,” he added. “Pairin who is also the Huguan Siou, the Paramount Leader of the KDM community, is indeed qualified to be Sabah’s next TYT.
For the record, Joseph Pairin Kitingan served as the 7th Chief Minister of Sabah from April 1985 to March 1994 and Member of Parliament for Keningau from August 1986 to May 2018.
Alix also said that based on the requirement of the State’s constitution for a person to hold the office of TYT, Pairin has all the criteria and is indeed qualified to be appointed as the next Sabah’s TYT.
Meanwhile, Pertubuhan Orang Asal Sabah – POAS, is a non-governmental association established with the objective of providing a platform for the Sabahan Indigenous people to disseminate information about the community, to participate in any program for the upliftment of the socio-economic well-being of the community and most importantly, it serves to promote greater understanding of the social, economic and political realities and the struggles to be recognised as indigenous people, know in some countries as the First Nations. POAS also aims to foster better understanding between peoples and to establish cooperation between nation as well as between nations and states and to promotes the primary objective of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples within the Sabah Context: mainly to help establish a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples Sabah base on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as it apply to Indigenous peoples.
