Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president Darell Leiking in making the observation, urged local Barisan Nasional (BN) parties to unite with his newly-formed party for the sake of their homeland.
“This would be a new journey towards a Sabah as intended by the founding fathers,” he said.
Warisan wants to be the driving force in bringing an end to Umno in Sabah.
He confirmed speculation that several young Sabah BN leaders were in discussions with Warisan.
He reckoned the battle in Sabah was no longer about preventing Malayanisation of the state but Umno-isation.
“Najib Abdul Razak, through Umno Sabah, is using the state for his own political interests and survival,” said Leiking.
Leiking believed Sabahans were for a better Sabah, and as Sabahans, “we will no longer tolerate anything against our interests”.
Basically, he said, it was about the principle of respect towards Sabah and Sarawak.
“Umno and Najib forfeited this for the sake of their political interests in Malaya (peninsula),” he added.
He cited Act 355 (hudud Bill) as a case in point.
“Najib dishonoured and trampled on the status of the leaders in BN Sabah component parties with Act 355,” said Leiking. “He promised to respect the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).”
Act 355 was a violation of MA63, Leiking said.
“Najib now wants to take over PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s Bill on hudud and make it a government Bill,” noted Leiking. “This is a desperate attempt to woo Malay voters.”
He cautioned there was no way to stop hudud law from being enforced in Sabah, “with the extension of Act 355 to the state”.
Act 355 showed that it was easy for Umno to trample on Sabah leaders and MA63, continued Leiking. “We must stand firm, as Sabahans, and reject any attempts to make us tools of Umno and its president.”
He said Warisan president, Shafie Apdal, was an example.
“Shafie stood up as a Sabahan and as a matter of principle, on the 1MDB scandal,” said Leiking. “He was against the attempt to make him subservient to Najib on 1MDB.”
He said Shafie did not make the wrong move by leaving Umno “as 12,000 new members stand behind him”.
He said there were repeated calls by Sabahans on various issues but to no avail. These included the issues of illegal immigrants (PTI), the deplorable condition of infrastructure, schools and utilities especially in the interior, security and chronic poverty, he said.
“It took Umno almost 10 years before the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) was set up,” said Leiking. “There’s still no concrete action taken on the RCI report despite two years having passed.”