Kota Kinabalu: Parti Warisan Sabah Treasurer-General, Terrence Siambun (pic), criticised Star Sabah President, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who proposed for a forum to be held in Sabah as means to find permanent solution to the long outstanding illegal immigrants (PTIs) issue in Sabah.
“You can organise a forum that involves the stakeholders when the issue at hand is new, for example, issues relating to economic stimulus package, increasing the effectiveness of the State or Federal Government Ministries or even on Covid-19.
“But with regards to the PTI issue in Sabah, there have been numerous discussions, forums, letters to the press, documentaries, statements by stakeholders, ex-CMs and leaders of political parties or NGOs, debates in Parliament or State Assembly been made since the 1980s and we even had a Royal Commission of Inquiry on it.
“Hence, there is no need to initiate forum anymore for people to talk about it because it is now the time for action and implementation; Sabahans had enough of the No Action Talk Only (Nato) era of BN,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
He said this redundancy shown by Dr Jeffrey clearly tells people that he is an incompetent, ineffective and a weak leader because he does not seem to be able to impress his Malaya masters at Perikatan Nasional (PN) when it comes to the PTI issue.
“But if Dr Jeffrey is so keen to organise a forum, then what I would suggest for him to do is to organise one on the oil royalty matter between the Federal Government, the Sabah Government, Petronas, Sabah Gas, IDS and other related stakeholders and discuss about the 50pc oil royalty which he (Jeffrey) had been harping for a very long time now,” said Siambun.
Siambun also think that Sabahans will benefit not much from the proposed forum to be initiated by Dr Jeffrey and believe he (Dr Jeffrey) may only want to seize the opportunity to gain mileage over an issue that is fast gaining attention in West Malaysia.
“PTI is now becoming a major issue in West Malaysia with Rohingya refugees and the Selayang market making the headlines so obviously, Federal Government will eventually have to do something about it because West Malaysians are getting restless with their (PTIs) presence, and not because Dr Jeffrey had said so.
“Dr Jeffrey may think that he will be enjoying the highlight created through the forum but what I want Sabahans to really know is that Bersatu and Umno will care less what he say or do because unlike the time when Sabah had a very strong voice through Warisan in the PH Federal Cabinet Ministryship, I believe Jeffrey is only a fringe player in the eyes of his Perikatan Nasional bosses whose presence is actually negligible.
“Hence, we had three Warisan Members of Parliament (MPs) appointed as a full federal ministers while two as deputy federal ministers and Sabah issues have been attended to at highest priority. But what does it tells us about Dr Jeffrey who is only being offered the post of as the Deputy Federal Minister of the Tourism Ministry?
“But of course, perhaps Dr Jeffrey may think that by having such forum, Sabahans will bind themselves to any decision put forth by PN and should such decision turns out to be unpopular within the Sabahans or simply a modified version of the Temporary Sabah Pass (PSS), then if I am Dr Jeffrey, I can always conveniently say that the Sabahans have been given the chance to speak but it was his Malaya masters at PN who has the final say,” he added.
Siambun also said that instead of wasting time seeking political mileage through a forum, Dr Jeffrey should instead assist the State Government rejuvenate the tourism industry.
“I know that Dr Jeffrey had been blaming Malaya for Sabah’s poverty since 1980s so I think he may have a change of heart for he is now working under his new Malaya masters in PN to promote and monitor the tourism industry in Malaysia.
“Every Sabahan knows that tourism is one of the main driver of Sabah’s economy but this sector has been devastated because of Covid-19 so I hope Dr Jeffrey could also consider to organise a forum on how to promote Sabah’s tourism products.
“So I hope Dr Jeffrey can assist the Sabah State Government to rejuvenate our tourism industry and not to overly prioritise the Malaya states only in accordance with the order given by his Malaya masters,” said Siambun.
