(Sabah Times) - Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has maintained its stand not to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) but said it is seeking constructive and innovative relation with the national opposition front without compromising its objective to gain autonomy for Sabah.
Its president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said regardless of whether they would be opposing each other in the next election or not, SAPP would have a mutual relation with the Anwar Ibrahim-led party.
“But regardless the situation, SAPP will always put its objective of forming a more autonomous state government as its priority,” he told a press conference after launching SAPP Putatan division yesterday, when commenting on his meeting with the PKR leader earlier.
Yong and several other SAPP leaders met Datuk Seri Anwar and his team over breakfast here yesterday morning.
“SAPP is not planning to join any national alliance and they understand and respect our stand,” he said, adding there was so far no official invitation from PKR to SAPP to join them.
Revealing some details of their discussion, Yong said both parties had gone through several national and state issues but did not say whether there was any discussion on forming strategic alliance between SAPP and PKR.
Among the things discussed, he said, included the State-Federal petroleum royalty agreement where both parties agreed that it could and should be reviewed.
“We are of the same opinion that the agreement is unfair and can be reviewed. If even the constitution can be amended there is no reason why the petroleum agreement cannot be reviewed,” he said.
He argued that the agreement did not indicate any period of time to which after it ends only then the terms of the agreement could be reviewed.
Furthermore, he added, the agreement was clearly unfair and as long as both the State and the Federal Government agreed to review it there was no reason why it could not be reviewed.
“Perhaps it would not be as shocking if the Federal Government refuses to review it as they are the one who benefit from it. But what is puzzling is why the State Government itself don’t want it to be reviewed,” he said.
He said given the fact that the BN would have lost the March elections if not for Sabah and Sarawak, both states together with Terrengganu should have the opportunity to fight for better bargain.
“Even though the Chief Minister has announced that the fuel royalty agreement will not be reviewed, I don’t think this matter will go away,” he said.
Other issues including illegal immigrants, the Manila claim, fuel price and current global economic crisis were also discussed during the meeting, Yong said.
written by ahmadneil, November 23, 2008 16:29:55
written by veseti, November 23, 2008 16:47:29
written by Bloodhound, November 23, 2008 19:23:22
WAKE UP! For heaven's sake, what games are the SAPP representatives playing?? Are the SAPP just trying to show us how stupid they are or what? There is no way SAPP can make any inroads to a change of government by itself - when will the stupid leaders ever learn!
When SAPP fields a candidate and PKR fields their own candidate in the same electrorate, support for change will be split between 2 candidates and the numbers for each candidate will be diluted. This will give BN the upperhand as they do not need that many voters to vote for them because the support for the opposition will be very much reduced as the opposition votes will be spread between the 2 candidates.
This will give BN a win - hands down! Might as well hand over the electrorate to BN on a silver platter.
Someone must investigate the reason for their failure to join forces. If the reason for the lost opportunity was because of self interest or because of positions, then, the representatives are not working for the benefit of their people and should be exposed and admonished!
Haven't the people of Sabah...in fact, the whole nation .....suffered enough? The people of Sabah must turn against their representatives to grab this opportunity to free themselves from the shackles of the shameless regime.
Pakatan Rakyat is here to create an opportunity to bring about change in Sabah - if enough of you join PR individually, your representatives will have no choice but to follow suit. Spread the word far and wide if you do not want to miss this opportunity.
written by IbnAbdHalim, November 23, 2008 21:04:09
written by asguard, November 24, 2008 09:13:54
written by rizzku, November 24, 2008 09:31:26
written by Rainbowseahorse, November 24, 2008 11:03:35
In fact, even the entire non UMNO Members of Parliaments of 12 (out of 25), and the State Assemblymen of 29 nos. (out of 60), will still be insufficient to form any type of government.
So, don't you see the political pattern in Sabah? UMNO, through their legalized migrant voters hold the majority votes in Sabah.
As I wrote somewhere, we real Sabahans are united behind the non UMNO parties, but our numbers cannot defeat those migrant UMNO numbers.
written by Bloodhound, November 25, 2008 07:20:48
I understand your state's problems but we must start somewhere. If we do nothing now, there could be no changes at all. If we seek to support PR and this helps in the bigger picture of getting rid of BN on a federal basis, then, it will benefit Sabah in the future.
We understand that BN has a stranglehold in Sabah and total freedom from BN in Sabah may not come immediately, but, if PR becomes the government, it is in their interest to sincerely look at the problems in Sabah and with more clout, they would be able to focus and contribute positively towards Sabah's development. PR would naturally pour more resources to better able to represent the Sabahans in order that the illegal immigrants do not pose any threat to their governance in the future and also to win over the real Sabahans.
PR has proven itself to be more caring and understanding party. We know how BN government behaves and how they had treated Sabah and Sarawak. They may now change their tune and may seem to be more accommodating now because they are weak. But we all know if and when they reestablishes their footings, their true colours will reappear again - this is as sure as nights will follow days!
As for PR, we need to give it a try as nothing could be much worse than the current regime. Do we want more of the same and watch our nation going down the drain?.....or should we go for something new that could give us a new beginning for a better life? As they say, if you never, never try....you would never, never know! There's nothing to lose but much to gain.
If we cannot achieve total victory in a single battle, let us not be disheartened or just walk away..... instead, let us build on top of this single victory to win more battles before we can win the War! If we cannot win enough of the battles, the War (the bigger picture) will never be won!
written by Bloodhound, November 25, 2008 07:42:50
You wrote:.....
.......the 2 MPs & 4 SA from SAPP are not sufficient to form the Sabah government
Every bit of support counts in the bigger picture. 2MPs &4SA from SAPP will add up to a victory. Of course, to make sure of success, we need to pour in more effort to get more supporters. What you all are doing now will contribute to the success of getting rid of your current problems. As I had always indicated
spread the news far and wide about the need for change and that PR can lead Sabahans out of their quadmire. It may take a bit longer than wished for because of the significant stranglehold due to the problems of illegal immigrants.....but, changes will come - you all must have faith ..... as we do.
If BN continues to rule indefinitely, the trend of poverty and abuses is unlikely to change......but at least PR is there to offer a beacon of hope and their policies are more people orientated and transparent. They are sincerely fighting corruptions and serious corruptions has meant that hugh amounts of funds has been siphoned off the system into pockets of certain leaders - money which could have been used to alleviate poverty and sufferings of the people of Sabah and Sarawak!
