The party’s youth chief Arthur Sen thanked former chief minister Harris Salleh for admitting his mistake in giving Labuan to the federal government but believed it was best not to bring up the matter again.
“Harris now readily acknowledged his mistake in the federalisation of Labuan. We should keep it at that. I do not know whether it is still possible for Labuan to be returned to Sabah but is that really important at this time?” he said to FMT.
Sen said while Labuan was neglected under the previous administration, the current federal government under the leadership of Prime Minister Najib Razak was giving all the right signals in trying to revive the island’s economy.
Last week, he said, during the tabling of Budget 2018, Najib had even proposed to formally conduct a feasibility study on the Labuan Bridge to link the island and the mainland of Sabah.
“I hope it is not too late to develop Labuan. I am more disappointed with what happened to the island during former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration,” he said.
The island, which is heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry, has suffered an economic downturn in the past few years, especially since the price of oil plummeted in the world market.
Harris had said that all the industries on the island were started during his term as chief minister, between 1976 and 1985.
“In his statement, Harris had said he was led to believe that the federalisation would benefit Labuan. But obviously Mahathir’s administration did not deliver on that promise.
“When we talk about Labuan, it is not about Harris but the people of Labuan,” he said.
Sen said the decision to cede Labuan was not made by Harris alone but by the then state Barisan Nasional government which had voted in the state assembly.
However, Harris was blamed for it as he was the chief minister at the time.
Sen said things would not have been so complicated if a referendum had been held prior to the federalisation.
“Because the people of Labuan were never consulted, Sabahans blamed the then state government for the loss of Sabah’s territory.
“Sabah should not have lost even an inch of its territory to the federal government.
“Under the Malaysia Agreement 1963, Sabah’s territory includes Labuan. But Labuan was given to the federal government legally. There is no question about that,” he said.
Sen said he could sympathise with Harris who had genuinely hoped that the federal government would turn Labuan into what Harris called “Little Singapore”, perhaps because Harris had realised that the Sabah government could not afford to do it alone.
However, he wondered if it would have been better to have “leased” Labuan to the federal government, in the same way Hong Kong was leased to the British by China.
“Anyway, like I said, it is now too late to say anything. Our only hope is that this time, Najib will finally fulfil that dream,” he said.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/04/04/harris-unhappy-old-issues-being-dredged-up/