KOTA KINABALU - SAPP president Yong Teck Lee has urged Pakatan Harapan (PH) to rectify mistakes made by previous national leaders which had affected the rights of Sabahans.
Yong was responding to a call by PH national secretary Saifuddin Abdullah yesterday, urging Sabahans to focus on changing the current government and to forget any mistakes that former prime minister and PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad might have made.
“Past mistakes have to be rectified, not just forgiven,” Yong told FMT.
“To rectify past mistakes, Malayan parties should, first and foremost, withdraw from Sabah and Sarawak.
“Secondly, they should sincerely uphold the spirit, letter and intent of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“Thirdly, they must combine with Sabah and Sarawak local parties to change the federal government.”
Yong, who is a former Sabah chief minister, also called for Sabah to be respected and accorded more autonomy.
“Do not interfere in Borneo politics. Respect whoever is elected by the Borneo people to be their governments,” he said.
“And respect the right and power of the Sabah government to issue Sabah ICs (identity cards) which can also help resolve the dubious MyKad or Malaysian ICs issued in the past by the federal government.”
Mahathir is held responsible by some Sabahans for the influx of illegal immigrants during the alleged “Projek IC”, as well as for bringing Umno into the state.
Earlier, Saifuddin had urged Sabahans to adopt a forgive-and-forget attitude towards Mahathir as even the people who had directly suffered “at the hands” of the former prime minister could be forgiving.
“Sabahans have to remember that the primary goal now is to defeat and replace the current government, and that past mistakes can be forgiven,” he said at a press conference in Penampang.
“Sabahans, just like other Malaysians anywhere else, are reasonable and practical people.
“The main issue now is to oust the government.
“If Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul Izzah and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail can sit with Dr Mahathir monthly, that’s enough to show that we have forgiven past mistakes for strategic reasons.”
Saifuddin was referring to de facto opposition leader Anwar and his daughter and wife. Anwar was jailed for several offences during Mahathir’s tenure as prime minister.
SAPP is a component of the Sabah-based, four-party opposition coalition Gabungan Sabah or United Sabah Alliance, which wants to see Sabah governed by local parties, not those from Peninsular Malaysia.
By Zam Yusa FMT