The vice president of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Datuk Chin Shu Ying is so naive to claim that Sabah will not be represented in Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council.
Either that or he (Chin) has run out of ideas that he is simply making claims like a political novice.
To answer him straight, it is still too early to assume there will be no Sabah leaders in Pakatan Harapan presidential council.
For the information of the uninitiated and in this context, the 12-member PH presidential council name list was submitted to fulfil requirement of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for approval.
Definitely there will be representatives from Sabahan once ROS approved the application as more council members will be included.
Unlike BN, which is dominated by one party, the PH is a coalition of equals.
Pakatan Harapan has the Borneo agenda in mind.
For example, the PH Youth has proposed that 20 per cent oil royalty, 50 per cent of all taxes collected from Sabah and Sarawak be returned to state coffers, honouring the MA63 as well as for more autonomy via decentralisation of powers to Sabah and Sarawak.
Contrary to Chin’s contention, a true Malaysian won’t undermine Sabah and Sarawak interest even though he or she is not a Sabahan or Sarawakian.
DAP’s veteran leader, Lim Kit Siang had objected to the constitution amendment to downgrade Sabah and Sarawak equal partner status to becoming one of 13 states in 1976.
He (Lim) was the first MP to raise up the issue of Batu Sumpah, and now he is pushing for the agenda to install Tan Sri Richard Malanjun as the first Chief Judge from East Malaysia.
What have BN component parties done for the sake for Sabah and Sarawak?
All the important office bearers in BN were UMNO leaders, while the head of the rest of the 12 BN component parties “are all vice chairman in the BN supreme council but without real power.
With all the powers in UMNO’s hand, it doesn’t have substantial meaning if any Sabahan is holding the important position of BN.
Has Salleh Said Keruak’s appointment as the BN treasurer automatically gets BN to uphold Sabah rights?
It was pointless to have so many Sabah and Sarawak leaders in cabinet but none of them can protect our rights.
They failed to stop any bill which is against the MA63 spirit, just like the recent issue of Tourism Tax.
With six full ministers from each state of East Malaysia, (Datuk Seri) Najib’s (Tun Razak) administration can still push forward the tourism tax bill without referring to the both state governments, which is in violation of the MA63.
The spirit of equal partnership is more important than the numbers of representatives in a political coalition.
I also rejected the notion that I have been polluted by Malaya mindset.
Mine is a Malaysian Mindset that is cultivated in DAP. I always remember Lim Kit Siang’s core principle of a real Malaysian patriotic and that Malaysia belongs to Malaysian.
A true patriotic Malaysian would uphold the principle of equality.
As contrast, for those East Malaysian leaders under UMNO’s sarung, they are subjected to UMNO’s hegemony and eventually failed to uphold the principle of equality, as manifested in Tourism Tax Bill fiasco.