KOTA KINABALU : Several individuals today supported the call made by the Member of Parliament for Penampang cum State Assemblyman for Moyog, Darell Leiking that an Emergency State Assembly sitting be held immediately before Parliament on 26 July to enable a *unified Sabahan Parliamentarians block stand through a resolution unanimously approved on a bipartisan basis* by the State Assembly Representatives.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office today has stated that Parliament will reconvene for five days from 26 to 29 July and 2 August.
According to Senator Datuk Douglas Lind, a Unified Sabahan Parliamentarians Block are and have been a Desire by all Sabahans for decades now in whereby, politicians will set aside their personal political cause in return for the greater good of Sabah.
“While some may argue that Members of Parliament from Sabah are not be bound to any decision made by State Assembly Representatives through the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy, there inherently exist a ‘political obligation’ on the part of our 24 strong Parliamentarians to ensure Sabah receives the best deal from this Federation – however I believe most Sabahans would ask, ‘in this age of technology where idealisms, slanders, lies and hopes are all constantly being mashed-up into the minds of the Voters, how will we know that our representatives, either within the State Assembly level or Parliament, have the State’s interests in their minds instead of the political benefits that they will accrue’?
This is true since when the Parliament reconvenes soon, the absence of a strong stand that emanates from the State Assembly relating to the immediate needs of Sabah this post-Covid 19 era will forecast a show by Sabahan MPs who will debate eloquently and passionately and at the end of the show, they will pat themselves at the back thinking they have done a great deal of service and justice to Sabah by just voicing out their own personal thoughts instead of what Sabahans really wanted in the first place.
And what do we the Sabahans want? Is it not a fact that we all want the Federal Government to treat Sabah seriously and respectfully? I too foresee that only a unified Sabah Parliamentarians with full bipartisan resolutions from the State Assembly can do this.
In fact, Sabahans should not be submissive when we talk about the Federal Parliament – while MPs from Sabah may not be bound to the decisions made by our State Legislative Assembly, the State still retains her powers (State Lists) either to allow or not most Parliament Bills passed as an Act to be enforceable in Sabah without ratification by the State Legislative Assembly,” he said today. On this, and in order to control our Sabah’s Sovereign Continental Shelf, the Territorial Sea Act 2012 should be unanimously rejected by the State Assembly and a strong unified Stance of this by a State Assembly bipartisan Resolution can then be brought in one unified voice by all Parliamentarians from Sabah.
Meanwhile, Ben Mansul who was the former Senior Private Secretary to the former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri VK Liew, rebutted the fickle allegation that WarisanPlus had done nothing over the issues relating to Sabah’s rights and that Leiking was only trying to put GRS in a tight position. It is unfortunate that some people have very little knowledge and understanding of the facts and had based their unfounded allegations from the usual Cyber Trooper fake news. Maybe, some of these aspiring Politicians should start to do some reading of facts.
*”I have personally seen that during the 18 months of the late Datuk Seri VK Liew’s tenure as Minister in charge of Law and of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Committee chaired by the then Prime Minister, the two Chief Ministers of Sabah & Sarawak,* had executed and resolved issues relating to the rights of Sabah and Sarawak as stated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in whereby 17 out of the 21 identified Issues of the MA63 had been approved by the MA63 Committee and the then Federal Cabinet. There were however Four Remaining Outstanding Issues that were not Concluded due to the Unceremonious Back Door Take Over of the then PH-Warisan Led Federal Government. These *Remaining Four (4) Outstanding issues out of Twenty One (21) were amongst others the Territorial Sea Act 2012 (Act 750), States Rights over the Continental Shelf, Oil Royalty Issues (Petroleum Cash Payments) and Sabah / Sarawak’s Management of its Oil & Gas (Hydrocarbon) Minerals and Fields.*
*Whilst we acknowledge that the current PN Government have also a specific Ministry of Sabah & Sarawak Affairs, Seventeen (17) months have since passed and the remaining Four (4) Outstanding Issues out of the Twenty One (21) issues remains unresolved!*
However, it might be worthwhile for all of us to consider the opportunity presented by this proposed State Emergency Sitting where our State Legislative Assembly can now effectively ratify or sanction a unanimous state resolution on issues that will not only be for the post-Covid 19 economic and social management of Sabah, but also on the remaining Four (4) Outstanding issues so that the Federal Government will be Obligated to make it a utmost priority,” he explained it. *As for how much Sabah is owed to by the Federal Government, it would be best that Prime Minister Mahiaddin be the one to answer on what are the quantum that Sabah is duly legitimately owed to as he has access to all the Fiscal Owings to Sabah from the beginning of Federation, Owing from the Article 112D (40% Net Revenue that should be returned to Sabah) and whether the Cash Payments in the Petroleum Development Act had been fair or otherwise to Sabah all these years.*
Meanwhile, a Supreme Council Member of Warisan, Datuk Honorsius Joe Bosuin, said that a State Emergency Sitting is needed if the GRS-led State Government wishes to show that it is sincere to eradicate the illegal immigrants in Sabah.
“When the then Home Minister, Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin, presented the Pass Sementara Sabah (PSS) as solution to the existence of illegal immigrants in Sabah, many Sabahans back then objected to the same through Black Sunday and this was widely used by the then Opposition during the Kimanis By Elections. The then WarianPlus Government subsequently rejected it and it would be most interesting to know what was tabled by Mahiaddin in the Federal Cabinet, during his tenure as Home Minister then. Let us get the facts right, that only the Federal Government can issue a PSS and that the facts are right before us, that Mahiaddin was then the Federal Home Minister. Numerous News and Videos are available where Mahiaddin was defensive of the PSS. To put a wool over the People of Sabah by blaming WarisanPlus of proposing the PSS is akin to missing the forest from the trees, whe the very person who can answer this is non other than the current Prime Minister who was then the Home Minister. Datuk Honorsius Bosuin believes the Prime Minister Mahiaddin should answer this!
Meanwhile, lest we forget, that when the PN-led Federal Government (through Current Home Minister, Hamzah Zainuddin) came out with the idea of a fresh IMM13 as the solutions with similar strategy as the PSS, it is noteworthy that while most Sabahans objected to it once again, many in the current State Government kept quite and have seem to manage to sweep the proposal under the carpet. This begets the call on whether, the IMM13 proposal by PN-Led Government remains still an active proposal or otherwise?
If Sabahans distrust any of the effort made by the respective governing party of day and all they want is these illegal immigrants be sent back their countries of origin, then this emergency sitting may also the best time to get a unified resolution from the State Legislative Assembly – how will the Federal Government and Home Minister can ever be serious on this issue if we don’t even show to them (the Home Minister and the Federal Government) that we in Sabah mean business and that Sabahans are united on these issues?
Obviously many will still demonise the idea of a Unified Resolution through State Emergency Sitting and ask why the need to? I would think the answer to it, is why Not?
Whether the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor and GRS will be agreeable to this proposal and imagines that Warisan is honest or not are irrelevant – the most important matter here is that Sabahans who have no political interest at all knows very well that PN days are numbered based on the attacks it is receiving day and night from ordinary citizens in social medias and even in open and closed confines. Hence, while PN has its problems now, the proposed Emergency Sitting is an opportune time for Sabahans to show a Sabah Stand on what it wants from its position as an equal partner of the Federation so that things can start moving post pandemic recovery but such sitting may very well be also the political lifeline desperately needed by GRS leaders to show how Unified Sabahan Elected Representatives can be for Sabah while nomadic sadly some isolated rookie politician will continue to downplay it,” he said.
