KOTA KINABALU: “Autonomy or Sabah Negeri Merdeka" must be on the lips and hearts of all true leaders in Sabah, said the co-founder of the United Borneo Front (UBF), Zainal Ajamain.
He said on both sides of Sabah's political divide, Sabahan leaders have long been incapacitated by their fear of their Perceived Malaya masters and would not speak out against the daily injustices towards fellow Sabahans.
"Even when they do speak up, it is just Passive shouting, a token resistance, just to show they are saying something.
"It is like a dog that is supposed to guard a house against a thief; while it barks it retreats to the back, easily allowing the thief into the house and taking all its belongings," he said in a statetment.
However, Ajmain said an awakening had come for many Sabahans. The people had been stirred from slumber and now find themselves thrust into a new political era.
"The traditional concept of ideals and the meaningful struggle to live and respect those ideals are being replaced by self-interest andm greed at lightning speed.
"Sabah cannot keep pace with the speed of this greed and that is why we now find our beautiful state dangerously set on the Path to self-destruction," he added.
According to him, last general election indicated that both the incumbent government and the opposition needed to win the hearts and minds of the people of Sabah in order to have the right to govern the state.
Political Parties, he stressed, must stop the practice of buying the people's hearts and minds with handouts and minor projects while continuing to keep promises unfulfilled and leaving a string of broken dreams.
"We ask, now with a louder and stronger voice, that elections in Malaysia be clean and just; this way the losers can accept, without question, the true will of the people and may the winner be humble in victory and rise immediately to the challenge of fulfilling their election manifesto.
"If Malaya cannot give in to this fair and reasonable demand, then we should have autonomy, independence within Malaysia. We are not asking for a Permanent separation, yet," he added.
However, if these demands continuously fall upon deaf ears and are met with disdain from the present leadership, Ajmain said it gives Sabahans no other alternative but to initiate efforts to gain its own sovereignty according to the terms agreed in 1963.
He said the leaders in Malaya must make their choice now, before the 13th general election.
Ajmain said the ultimate losers at the end of this protracted battle would not be Sabahans but Malaya, because Malaya has too little resource to sustain its growing population, ironically, a Population growth engineered to sustain its own political survival.
Meanwhile, as a democracy, he said Sabahans would accept anyone who came to Sabah to set up and expand their political party.
However, there is an important criterion, where the State Anthem Sabah Tanah Airku, must be respected by all political parties in Sabah.
He said this was a measune of the political parties' sincerity towards the people of Sabah, that they were here not just for Political gains but they were to work with the people to make Sabah the best she could be in every way.
"Sabah Tanah Airku encapsulates what it means to be a Sabahan. Our founding fathers chose the state anthem because it carried a message and they had every intention for that message to be the doctrine by which we live," he stressed.
"Merdeka Sepanjang Masa and Sabah, Negeri Merdeka, this is what we are. We are independent and we shall always be," he stressed.
The Borneo Post
Friday, September 23, 2011
Page A8
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