P'sula opposition parties must stay away: Star

Sabah State Reform Party (Star) is not budging from its stance that Sabah seats must be contested by local parties.

Its Deputy Chairman Awang Ahmad Shah said West Malaysia-based opposition parties should, instead, focus on contesting in the peninsula.

He was reponding to the statement by Batu Tiga Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR's) Assemblywoman, Rodziah Ismail, who shot down a suggestion by Sabah Star Chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan that peninsula parties should leave it to local parties to contest Sabah state seats in the next general election.

While he understood PKR's enthusiasm to contest in Sabah, he said Rodziah should strive to understand the strong rationales behind Star's suggestion.

"If she believes that our objective is for change and to topple the BN government, then this is the best way.

"Star and other local parties in Sabah all feel that we need to give Sabahans a sense of self-determination.

"Maybe PKR, as a peninsula party, is not aware of this but there is now a widespread feeling among Sabahans that they want a new political order in which Sabah is ruled by local parties and not by peninsula ones," he said.

He said that it is not a question whether Dr Jeffrey wants to lead Sabah politics alone, but instead the next State Government must be in the hands of local parties.

If PKR insist on dominating Sabah politics, he said it is akin of another Umno in the making and that Sabah under PKR would still be subject to the decisions and dictates of Kuala Lumpur as what is happening now under Umno.

"If PKR wants to do the same what Umno is doing then Sabah will not have real change for promotion of its rights and autonomy because it will still be subjected to a Peninsula-based power," he said.

Awang said they should not forget that Umno has often expressed regret for coming into Sabah although it would not readily admit this now.

Daily Express