Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee said the setting up of more diplomatic missions in Sabah will raise the State’s international profile and boost trade and tourism.
“Just last month, Singapore announced a consulate will be set up at Kota Kinabalu this year. Indonesia, Japan, Brunei, China and Korea already have diplomatic missions in Sabah,” he said.
He said India, as an economic powerhouse, offered a large market for Sabah’s palm oil, agricultural produce and other products, and highlighted similarities including English usage, commonwealth ties, legal systems and business laws, as well as India’s advances in science, technology and medicine.
In the light of this, he urged the Sabah Government to respond to the proposal.
Yong said in a statement that Sabahans are awaiting a response following Prime Minister’s announcement on a consulate.
He noted that four days had passed since the joint press conference by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Modi’s on the proposal, but the Sabah Government had yet to comment.
Yong described the silence as odd, stating that the establishment of a foreign mission in any Malaysian state, as a matter of precedent and good administration, requires the concurrence of the State Government concerned.
“This unusual silence has unfortunately given rise to speculation and negative views in social media about the proposed Indian consulate,” he said.
He questioned whether the Sabah Government had been consulted, whether it had been caught off guard by the announcement, and what its position was on the matter.
“Why are our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of International Trade and our own Sabah government keeping so quiet? By now, both the federal and Sabah governments should have laid out the benefits and basic nature of the proposed Indian diplomatic mission, just like other consulates, in Sabah?”
