Darell Leiking
KOTA KINABALU: Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking has urged Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor to call for an emergency State Assembly meeting next week by doing away with the usual notices before the Federal Parliament reconvenes after being suspended for six months.
He said that the emergency sitting is necessary to enable the 24 strong members of parliament from Sabah to form a solidified front when bringing up the aspirations and needs of Sabahans at Parliament.
“In the past, we have seen MPs from Sabah belittle each other sadly and much to the amusement of MPs from Peninsular, where at the end of it all, very little if not, no benefits return to Sabah despite all the demands and debates.
“Hence, it may be a strategic move for all elected representatives of Sabah, more so that we are now in the Covid-19 era, to forge a common position for Sabah to ratify at Parliament what the Sabah State Assembly has unanimously passed,” he said.
“This is the time that necessitates the 24 parliamentarians from Sabah to forgo temporarily their political cause and have a common cause to prioritize the needs of the State and Sabahans first more so to all those Sabahans who are now laying in silence in their homes due to the deprivation of basic necessities, loss of jobs and incomes, deprivation of education/skills due to the current circumstance and the bleak future that they and all of us foresee if we continue to allow the Federal Government to dictate Sabah and what she is entitled for as equal partner of the Federation,” he added in a statement on Saturday.
Leiking said Sarawak had been able to navigate their State based on its political will, albeit most of their demands were complied with federally because of their political strength in numbers and of their successful wealth management through its umpteen of billions in cash and assets reserve, which Sabah’s gas assets had contributed immensely to, via the outflow of raw gas to Bintulu.
“It may also be very well that many of these Sabahans who have no one to turn to for job opportunities or income have resigned their fate to God and have continued to pray unceasingly every moment in a day for assistance so that their families will survive and remain intact – yet if we as elected representatives and those powers that be continue to be callous in our responsibility, then woe is set to befall us all for the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.”
Leiking said we need to help these Sabahans either financially, materially or through the revitalization of the State economy but it seems that the Federal Government’s decisions or even Sabah’s own self-limitations by depending on Federal Government’s decisions have hindered us in so many damaging ways more so when the Federal Government are and have never satisfactorily allotted special MCO/EMCO fund packages exclusively for Sabah.
“We can obviously see the debacle over the waiting game to seek a gazette of the new SOP that Sabah requested to which, in my opinion, should have only been a notice given but decisions enforced immediately in Sabah without Federal consent at all – after all Sabah has its own set of public health ordinance and licensing laws/policies,” he said.
For Sabah to effectively produce a strong Sabahan parliamentarians front, Leiking proposed that the State Assembly must come out with the ‘common agendas’ affecting Sabah nationally and such resolutions will become the bipartisan position concerning Sabah when Parliament reconvenes.
“The State Government should immediately seek out with all State’s opposition on common agendas for the State assemblymen/women to debate upon and to resolve a common unanimous decision during the proposed emergency State sitting which will then become the “Sabah’s Position” for our parliamentarians to table and demand at Parliament when it convenes,” he said.
Leiking said Warisan is prepared to debate and where necessary, contribute to the common agendas to be brought up by the State Government as long as it is specifically meant for the immediate relief and assistance to the ordinary Sabahans facing the hardship caused by the pandemic, Sabah’s SMEs and micro-industries and most of all, the securement of Sabah’s rights and fiscal entitlement to manage its own post-pandemic economic revival for Sabah.
“This is also the timeline for the State Government of Sabah to seek a unanimous decision at the State Assembly on matters that Sabah had been demanding for all these decades besides to unanimously reject the Territorial Sea Act 2012 so that our control over our continental shelf remains in Sabah’s hands and also to reinstate the Health Ministry in Sabah to manage its health facilities in the State as was done by the WarisanPlus government and so many more outstanding Sabah Issues amongst others.
“All these and more are in order to ensure the post-pandemic actions can be managed by Sabahans in our ways and most importantly, that Sabah will never again be at the mercy of any Federal Government – the point is, we need to come out with a united front and a united State Assembly decision before Parliament reconvenes,” he explained.
Leiking also contends that the emergency State Assembly sitting will not in any way affect the political idealisms held by respective parties but rather to ratify common issues that all had fought for all these years and to procure what Sabah wants, once and for all.
“Almost all parties talk about MA63 and argue for it so this is the common agenda that we can start with and at the same time, we all want to ensure that no Sabahan will be left out from getting the Covid-19 vaccination, food baskets, financial assistances, education and economic opportunities and skills that we need to revive back our State post-Covid 19 pandemic.
“As an opposition, Warisan shall continue to expose the weakness and failures of the GRS-led State Government more so when we all can see the failures of the Prime Minister and his Federal Cabinet – however, and in my opinion, this is the timeline when we need to prioritize the needs of Sabah and Sabahans first and seize the opportunity to resolve an unanimous stand on getting what Sabah has long been entitled to have as an equal partner,” he said.