Oil royalty: ‘Adenan Move’ receives accolades from Sabah’s Jeffrey 11/06/2014 By Joe Leong KOTA KINABALU: There is no doubt that Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s official request to the federal government to increase oil and gas royalty from five to 20 per cent has resonated well with many. Since the Sarawak Legislative Assembly carried a special motion on the matter, Adenan has won praise from many quarters including his detractors. It must be noted that opposition members of the state assembly also voted in unison with the government to approve the motion. Adenan received his latest accolades from an outspoken Sabah politician. While praising Adenan, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Sabah chief of Sarawak-based State Reform Party (Star), also took Sabah BN leaders to task for back-tracking on their stand on the proposed hike on oil royalties. Jeffrey has reasons to blast his fellow politicians from his home state as none of them, particularly those from Umno, has ever raised anything pertaining to Sabah’s rights as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement. To Jeffrey, a known advocate of the rights of East Malaysians through his vehicles Star and the United Borneo Front, the Malaysia Agreement has been his bone of contention in his constant bouts with Putrajaya. Understandably, he posed these familiar questions here again on June 9. “Will Sabah’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement be protected and enforced? Will Sabah seek the return of Sabah’s oil and gas ownership rights? Will Sabah be solving the perennial illegal immigrants and dubious IC holders with voting rights?” he asked BN leaders in his home state. Jeffrey, state assemblyman for Bingkor in the interior region of Sabah, had earlier commented on Adenans 100 days as Sarawak chief minister, saying that Adenans actions thus far have “clearly put Sabah BN leaders in a bind”. The Sabah Star chief was impressed by Adenans statements on the autonomy of Sarawak, the fact that this Borneo state had formed and not joined Malaysia and that Sarawak is not being equal to the states in the peninsula. He also spoke of Adenans firm stand on Sarawaks rights to control immigration pursuant to the special rights of Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement, and the safeguarding of racial and religious harmony in Sarawak from the racial and religious bigots and extremists from the peninsula. “Very soon the Sabah government and BN leaders will have no place to hide their faces and may have to migrate to Kuala Lumpur if they do not pull up their socks and start acting as Sabah leaders and looking after Sabah’s rights and interests,” Jeffrey said. He recalled that Adenan’s predecessor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud had before stepping down set the benchmark for patriots of Sabah and Sarawak by advising that his successor should ensure Umno and its brand of racially divisive politics be kept out of Sarawak and to vigorously protect the state’s rights as spelled out in the Malaysia Agreement 1963. “True to form, Tan Sri Adenan had not only adopted the same patriotism, but had clearly set out his vision unequivocally and in no uncertain terms. Not too bad for being 100 days in helming Sarawak. At the same time, it puts Sabah leaders, who have been helming the state for more than 10 years, to shame,” he added. Although Jeffrey, a former ISA detainee, did not mention them by name, he was obviously referring to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman and some of his Cabinet members who had held their posts since 2003. This controversial politician from Sabah said Adenan has also put Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak and the federal government “in the right spot” by stating the obvious, that Sarawak is autonomous and it formed and not joined Malaysia. Looking ahead, Jeffrey also wondered what the federal and Sabah governments would come up with “to fool Sabahans” this coming Aug 31 celebration and he asked: “Will it be the 57th anniversary of Malaysia’s independence or of the Federation of Malaya’s independence? Will it be the 51st anniversary of Sabah’s independence?” As for the Malaysia Day celebration on Sept 16, his question is: “Will it be the 51st anniversary of the formation of Malaysia or 51 years of progress in Malaysia for Sabah while being the poorest in Malaysia?” Would national and Sabah leaders offer answers to these questions? Not likely.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 16:09:58 +0000
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