SAPP to PBS: What's your stand on the Labuan issue?

KOTA KINABALU, June 17, 2011: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) wants Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) to state its stand on the Labuan issue.

The former Sabah territory which is now a Federal Territory after it was ceded to the Federal government in 1984, recently became a hot topic again, following Upko's recent call for this island to be returned back to Sabah.


Upko vice president Datuk Wences Angang on Thursday called on the Federal government to return Labuan to Sabah government for failing to administer the island and maintain its free port status. He urged this in response to Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Datuk Zainal Abidin's statement earlier, saying that smuggling activities in labuan have gone out of control, thereby incurring huge losses to the government.

In a statement issued here today, SAPP Information Chief Chong Pit Fah urged PBS to state its stand on the issue, asserting that this is appropriate and important citing the fact that it was once a crucial part of PBS's agendas and struggles, that even led to its winning of the 1985's election to form the State government.

"Both Upko and Umno have stated their respective on the matter. We believe the people of Sabah are now eager to know what is PBS's stand on this matter, whether it is still the same or has changed," said Chong.

He also urged the Federal Government not to do as they like in Labuan just because it is a Federal Territory.

He stressed that the Federal Government must not use the "out-of-control smuggling activity" as an excuse for changing the status of Labuan, as it was merely an enforcement issue.

Besides this, Chong who is also SAPP Kepayan CLC Chairman also wanted to know the reason behind the much delay in the implementation of the proposed Labuan – Menumbok Bridge project, citing that it was announced during the tenure of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as the Prime Minister.

"If Penang can have a second bridge then "why can't we have a bridge to link Labuan and Menumbok?" he asked, adding that its materialization would be significant in boosting the economy of Labuan and Menumbok.

He further noted that it has been one of the SAPP's eight-point declaration that the Federal Territory of labuan shall be returned to sabah and governed as a special region.

Labuan MP tells Upko to stay out

Michael Kaung

An senior member of the Sabah Barisan Nasional coalition wants the federal government to return Labuan to Sabah.

LABUAN: The call to return Labuan to Sabah by a senior Sabah politician is uncalled for, Labuan MP Yussof Mahal said here yesterday.

He said United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) vice- president Wences Anggang should retract his statement.

Yussof, the Barisan Nasional MP, said Anggang’s statement could adversely affect the existing good ties between Sabah and federal government.

“Being the MP here I know better about the situation in my constituency, so there is no need for any suggestion from any leaders outside of Labuan to urge any leaders, be it in the state government or federal government, to return the island to Sabah,” he said yesterday.

Yussof, who is also chairman of Labuan Corporation, said the people of Labuan have enjoyed steady development and progress under the federal government.

“The elevation of Labuan into a federal territory was based on mutual agreement between the Sabah and federal leaders.

“As such, Anggang should not simply jump to conclusions and urge the federal government to return Labuan to Sabah.”

Remove free port status

Upko, he said, already has a representative in the Labuan Corporation’s advisory council who can speak up for the Kadazandusun Murut community (KDM).

Anggang yesterday called on the federal government to return Labuan to the Sabah government for failing to administer the island and maintain its free port status.

He made the statement in response to Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister, Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin, alleging that smuggling activities in Labuan were out of control and as a result, the government was incurring huge losses.

Anggang said Raja Nong’s proposition that the status of Labuan as a free port be scrapped was tantamount to admitting failure in maintaining the island as a free port, a status it has held since the British colonial rule.

He said the removal of the free port status as suggested by the finance ministry would affect the lives of the people in Labuan as well as neighbouring Menumbok.

The finance ministry advised that the free port status of the island should be reviewed in the light of the rampant smuggling activities centred around it.

Raja Nong, however, said the review would not take place immediately as his ministry wanted the enforcement agencies like Customs and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency to strengthen enforcement within  Sabah and Labuan waters.

Dompok: Pairin masterminded PBS pullout

Dominic Legeh

PENAMPANG: A former senior Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leader has accused former Sabah chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan of being the brains behind the pullout from the Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1990.

Bernard Dompok today broke his silence, saying it was his former boss Pairin who started talking about the plan for PBS to pull out from the BN after a shaky relationship with the federal administration of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.


Dompok, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun and Murut Organisation (Upko) president,
who was then a high-ranking leader of PBS, recalled that the planning took place during the 1990 general election campaigning period.

“I remember very correctly the day the (PBS) supreme council decided on it. I was already campaigning as a candidate in Penampang constituency… at that time Moyog and Inanam were together part of the Penampang constituency,” Dompok said.

“Then I received a call, on the day of the meeting, from the president (Pairin) and I went and saw him… he started it all by talking about it (pulling out from BN).

“But I think, as I have said before, there are a lot of things that I rather not talk about,” he said.

Dompok, who is also Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, said Pairin should confirm this account of the events that transpired prior to the pullout.

Dompok was speaking in response to a recent statement by PBS which officially put on record that it was he, Yong Teck Lee (now Sabah Progressive Party leader) and former minister Tham Nyip Shen who forced Pairin’s hand into making that fateful decision to pull out from the ruling BN coalition on the eve of the 1990 general election.

PBS vice-president Radin Malleh made the claim following Mahathir’s revelation in his memoir “A Doctor In The House” that the decision to pull out announced at 8pm at the KK Community Centre here, was what led him to convene an urgent Umno supreme council meeting at midnight the same day in Kuala Lumpur to announce Umno’s expansion to Sabah.

It was a decision that still rankles as it changed Sabah’s political landscape.

Pushed to the wall

Fearing the disclosure would stir up emotions among Sabahans, Radin said Pairin had actually remained loyal to the BN although the federal leadership at that time did not favour the party.

“Although Pairin was already pushed to the wall, he remained loyal to BN until an emergency PBS supreme council meeting held on Oct 15, 1990, where he was forced to agree to pull out from BN by Yong (Teck Lee) and Tham (Nyip Shen), supported by (Bernard) Dompok… these three people were very adamant to get out from BN.”

Dompok today rejected Radin’s claim during a press conference after receiving application forms to join his party from more members of the Kadazandusun community.

“I think I have now been relegated to just a supporter (of the pullout plan), because in some of the earlier statements I seem to have been the promoter… I certainly would like to say a bit more if Pairin can sort of come out and confirm what he feels about it.

“I think if we look back, if the pullout had gone right, history would have been different,” he said, adding that Pairin would have an even more elevated stature if his plan had worked.

“None of us (Yong, Tham and he) would have surfaced as promoters or supporters of this decision… but as it happened, of course, it didn’t turn out that good.

“The decision did not turn out so good. We keep on saying it … and of course nothing would have been heard about Tham, Yong and supporters like me if the decision had turned out right.

“So now my short answer to you is that everybody (actually) had a role… it is important to say (this) today of course (but) let’s move on,” he said.

Asked to comment that the BN-led federal government under Mahathir had punished Sabah because of the pullout, Dompok said people were free to interpret in their own way in making a conclusion.

Earlier, he welcomed Jeoffrey Ekol and Slyvester Sidion, two respected members of the community, saying that Upko now has slightly over 100,000 members.