Rejected in Sarawak, Umno has been given the boot in Sabah too due to its "race and religion" politics and the Project IC controversy.
Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) said today that Umno was not wanted in Sabah because the party had "meddled, manipulated and damaged" the state.
Its chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said this, echoing Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem who said on Saturday that there was no place for Umno in Sarawak politics.
Kitingan said Umno should not have a place in Sabah, where many "non-fixed deposit voters" had rejected the party.
"Similarly, the race and religion politics of Umno with its own version of Islam is not suitable for Sabah.
"(The party) has caused disharmony and its divide and rule politics have fragmented Sabah society," he said in a statement.
Kitingan praised former Sarawak menteri besar Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is currently governor of Sarawak, for advising his successor to keep Umno and its brand of racially divisive politics out of Sarawak and to stand tough in defending state's interests.
He said Adenan was doing a fine job of this, and praised Sarawak BN leaders for articulating correctly the basis of the formation of Malaysia and the rights of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the Federation of Malaysia.
He said that on the other hand, Sabah Umno leaders had been unable to defend the rights and interests of Sabah and its citizens, and accused them of following their Umno masters in Putrajaya.
"For its own political game and to remain in power, Umno has irreparably damaged Sabah with Project IC and the dubious issuance of ICs and MyKads to foreigners and entering them into the electoral rolls," he said.
Under Project IC, foreigners who entered the state illegally were allegedly given MyKads and made voters over the years.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into illegal immigrants in Sabah came up with a 368-page report in December last year which declared Project IC had “more likely than not” existed through syndicates and corrupt officials.
The RCI report said government and political parties were not involved in the mass issuance of citizenship to migrants in Sabah, blaming it on "syndicates", which included civil servants from the National Registration Department as culprits.
No names were mentioned but the RCI concluded that 68,703 ineligible people were issued citizenship between 1963 and August 31, 2013.
Kitingan said Umno was now trying to make the people of Borneo “rumpun Melayu” while playing the race and religion game with Umno's version of Islam.
"In reality, a 'Borneo Melayu' will not be treated equally as a Malayan Malay, much less a Borneo non-Muslim bumiputera," he said.
He said Sabah and Sarawak were as different from peninsular Malaysia as the South China Sea that geographically separates them, and that culturally and ethnically, East Malaysians were not connected with the people of West Malaysia.
Like its neighbour Sarawak, Kitingan said Sabah should be left to Sabahans "who understand it best”, and not Sabahans under the control of Malayan leaders.
He said Umno in Sabah only understood issues of interest to the party, the Malays, and its version of Islam.
He added that Umno "does not bother about the feelings of the other (Barisan Nasional) component parties much less the ordinary Sabahans."
He also commented on BN's power-sharing agreement, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's “1Malaysia” slogan, and the khalimah Allah issue.
"The power-sharing agreed in Sabah BN is a good point, where all decisions and positions are dominated if not decided by Umno.
"There is no better example of Najib’s own '1Malaysia' slogan than Sabah and Sarawak, where many families have members of different races and religions. Yet, they are being attacked and bombarded daily by racial and religious extremism imported from Malaya.
"It is ridiculous and incomprehensible that Sarawakians and Sabahans are allowed to use the word 'Allah' when they are in East Malaysia but are barred from doing so the minute they step on Malayan soil," he said.
Kitingan also hit out at the BN federal government for leaving Sabah behind in development.
He said development in the state was backward and 50 years behind that of the peninsula.
"If the neglect in the yearly budgets continue for the next 50 years, it will lag behind 100 years with no clean treated water, no sealed roads, no electrification and other basic amenities and no proper Pan Borneo Highway, at least until 2022," he said.
Kitingan said in Sarawak, the BN government insisted that the Sarawak portion of the Pan Borneo Highway was to be awarded to a Sarawak consortium and built by Sarawak contractors.
In Sabah, the Umno-led BN government has done nothing for its local contractors and the Sabah portion of the highway will be given to a Malayan and Umno-linked group, leaving Sabah contractors to fight for "sub-sub-contracts and crumbs", he said.
"The same goes for Petronas contracts in Sabah... local Umno leaders follow their masters in Putrajaya that Sabah is one of the 13 states in Malaya and that the oil and gas that comes from the soil of Sabah belong to Malays, Malaya and the federal government.
"These Sabah Umno leaders dare not even voice the rights and interests of Sabah let alone defend them.
"Is it a wonder that Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia? Is it a wonder that many Sabahans do not want Umno in Sabah too?" he said. – February 16, 2015.
SOURCE:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/no-umno-in-sabah-either-says-jeffrey-kitingan
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