PRESS STATEMENT

September 16th Has Become Occupation Day- Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu: September 16th, which took 48 years, for the federal government to recognize as Malaysia Day might as well be called Occupation Day for Sabah since the freedom and independence affirmed on August 31st, 1963 and the absolute independence promised by Tunku Abdul Rahman when persuading the Borneo Territories to form Malaysia never materialized said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief when asked about celebrating Malaysia Day on 16th September. He said, What is there to celebrate? Malaya has taken over Sabah from the British and now Malaya has re colonized us under the guise and name of the Federal Government of Malaysia. Where are the promises of absolute independence, prosperity and security? The so-called Malaysia has only benefited Malaya at the expense of Sabah and Sarawak. They (Malaya) control our oil and gas resources, collect our revenues, run our government and deliberately change our demography (through Project IC/Ops Durian Buruk, phantom voters (penggundi hantu), etc.) and make Sabah poor and insecure. Now Sabah is simply a vassal state of Kuala Lumpur/Putrajaya. It is now 50 years after the so-called Independence and the formation of Malaysia, yet there is no Independence and freedom to speak of. Instead, Sabah has been Occupied by Malaya politically, economically and socially. Sabah is no longer a Negara as once the Sabah Constitution described us but a mere Negeri Ke12 in Malaya; no longer independent as the State National Anthem described us Sabah Merdeka Selama-lamanya but a DEPENDENT subservient state ruled by Malaya through UMNO. After 50 years of independence, the army Is all over Sabah under Esscom and in the Esszone because it is no longer safe. The people of Sabah must realise that had Sabah and Sarawak opted out of Malaysia as Brunei did, we could be free and independent nations like Brunei and Singapore, and perhaps financially much better off, with an annual State Budget revenue in excess of RM40 billion compared to the RM3.7 billion currently. The importance of Sabah and Sarawak to the federal government cannot be better emphasized than their financial contributions. In 2012, the federal budget revenue was estimated at RM186.9 billion of which Petronas contributed about RM30.017 billion in federal taxes and another RM30 billion in special dividends, a hefty 32.11%, while Petronas made a gross profit before tax of RM90.496 billion. In turn, Sabah contributed RM18 billion and Sarawak RM40 billion to Petronas in 2012. Sabah was reported to have contributed another RM24 billion in federal taxes while other federal departments in Sabah such as Immigration, JPJ, Customs and others would have collected many billions more. On the private sector, many companies including GLCs like Sime Darby, Guthrie and Felda, in the Peninsula especially plantation companies generate billions of nett profits from Sabah in their income tax contributions to the federal government.

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The Malaya federal government needs Sabah and Sarawak more than the reverse and the federal government may even go bankrupt without the financial contributions from Sabah and Sarawak. Sabah and Sarawak should be treated with due recognition and respect as equal partners in Malaysia and not as subservient 12th and 13th states for the benefit of Malaya. The option now is to improve the situation by addressing the injustices inflicted on Sabah by UMNO de-occupying Sabah and by restoring the special rights and autonomy of Sabah. I called upon Prime Minister Najib to consider these options if he wants to save Malaya/Malaysia for the next 50 years and to stop hiding the real history and formation of Malaysia under the guise of 50 Tahun Sabah Maju Jaya Dalam Malaysia in Sabah while hypocritically celebrating 56 Years of Independence of Malaysia in the Peninsula when Malaysia was formed and never colonized and is only 50 years old on 16 September 2013.

Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan Chairman, STAR Sabah 11 September 2013