KUALA LUMPUR: Claiming unfair allocation for Sabah in Budget 2022 and unfulfilled promises under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), a Warisan leader says it might be time to leave the federation.
Azis Jamman, who previously said that Warisan was unhappy with the RM5.2 billion allocated to the state, again raised the spectre of Sabah seceding from Malaysia over what he calls “the discriminatory treatment”.
Azis said such calls were growing louder, even in Sarawak.
“And if Putrajaya continues to treat us like a step-child, don’t blame us if the movement to liberate Sabah from Putrajaya’s colonialism grows stronger,” he said when debating the federal budget in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He also questioned why the recently tabled federal budget was “divisive” in nature, when race and religion was never a factor when it came to tax collection.
The Sepanggar MP said it was a step backwards for the government to be allocating funds according to race and religion.
“We are supposed to be building a nation, not a particular race or religion. We are supposed to be uniting the people, not dividing them,” he said.
Azis said that if a husband and wife could part ways, so could Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.
He went on to say that both Singapore and Brunei were able to survive independently despite being smaller nations.
“I am confident that with our natural resources, Sabah too can be independent.”
He also said if the terms under MA63 were contravened, it could be declared null and void.
“And I would like to remind Putrajaya that there is no Malaysia without Sabah.”
Yesterday, Perikatan Nasional deputy chairman Jeffrey Kitingan warned Putrajaya against mistreating Sabah and Sarawak, which he labelled as Malaysia’s golden geese.
Kitingan claimed that some 60% of East Malaysians were calling for Sabah and Sarawak to leave Malaysia after they were allocated RM5.2 billion and RM4.6 billion, respectively, in development funds for next year.
“Please don’t try to kill the ‘golden geese’ or they will fly away,” he said.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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