Speaking to FMT, Zainnal, who heads the newly formed NGO Sabah Firstborn Society, said he found it amusing that PH saw it fit to actually announce a combined RM15 billion in infrastructure development funds for Sabah and Sarawak if it won Putrajaya.
“I don’t see the point of setting the amount or to say they will redirect 30% of the national development budget for Sabah.
“Remember that Sarawak already contributed not less than RM120 billion to the Federal coffers two years ago, which means Sabah’s contribution is about the same.
“For PH to promise RM15 billion is like slapping Sabahans for being gullible,” he said.
Instead of trying to come up with novelties such as fixing a certain amount for infrastructure development, Zainnal said the opposition coalition should emphasize on paying Sabah 40% of the net revenue the federal government collected from the state, plus arrears and interest since 1964.
“Sometimes these politicians from Malaya just say things to give them a good feeling, yet it is nothing new to the people in Sabah.
“Malaya must pay Sabah the 40% so that we can better take care of our education and health services.
“What is the point of restoring (control over) our education when you do not restore our sources of income?” he asked.
From what he had read, Zainnal said, it was clear that PH leaders were not particular about the rights under MA63 and were only interested in getting Sabahans to vote their candidates as MPs.
This was the reason, he said, PH leaders could not subscribe to the slogan “Sabah for Sabahans” (S4S) as they needed to harp on the mantra that Sabah rights were to be decided by Putrajaya, hence the need to replace those currently in Putrajaya.
He said this meant they would promise Sabahans the moon just to get the Sabah votes.
“Is it possible for Sabahans to trust the word of these orang Malaya? In Indonesia they call these type of people “Belanda Dapat Tanah” or the “Dutch given land”, they will dig the soil from the small piece of land they have and spread them everywhere and where ever they spread the soil, they will claim it is their land.”
He said PH’s “New Deal” was actually “a no deal” because Sabah had never been paid royalty. The state has received only cash payments since 1974, which means PH cannot even differentiate between royalty and cash payment.
He reiterated that Sabah owned the whole oil and gas sector but certain laws were passed by parliament which took away the oil and gas rights of Sabah and Sarawak.
“Did PH fight for this injustice? The law is being used to legitimise the pillaging and plundering of Sabah’s wealth. So what is PH doing? As usual when cornered, they play dumb.
“Then they have the audacity to promise 50% revenue sharing. Do they know that they could not even highlight the 40% in parliament since Malaysia started and now they are talking about increasing it to 50%?
“Pakatan Harapan is not only insulting the intelligence of Sabahans, they are clearly giving false hope.
“I, for one, would consider seriously PH’s proposal if they commit themselves to allow the Sabah government to collect all the taxes, retain the 50% and send the 50% to Putrajaya.
“But if Putrajaya collects and gives us the 50% later, no thank you – sorry we are not ‘paloi’ (stupid).”
Power to restore state rights rests with Putrajaya, Sabahans told