Commenting on Pakatan Harapan prime minister-designate Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s continued absence in Sabah, Anifah said it was strange that Mahathir had visited “all states in the peninsula” but had not stepped foot in Sabah at all.
“Is it possible that if he becomes a prime minister, he will remember Sabah?
“It is as if we here are second-class citizens. If he doesn’t come here, how would he know about our current situation?” he said after opening the Kimanis community college here today.
Anifah said the main issue in Sabah now was the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Compared with Mahathir, he said Prime Minister Najib Razak was more sincere when it came to MA63 and had repeatedly vowed to return the rights of the Bornean states and implement what should have been implemented as agreed.
“I dare Mahathir to stand and say he will return our rights. He was in power for 22 years. Come on… it’s enough.
“He has not done much for all of us in Sabah. And his continued absence here really insults me.
“He should come here and tell Sabahans why he wants to become the prime minister again. There is no one stopping him from coming here. It’s election time,” he said.
Personally, Anifah said, he did not want Mahathir to be the prime minister again because it would be better for Sabahans to have “a fair man” such as Najib as the top man in the country.
Unlike Mahathir, he said Najib was easier to talk to.
“If I said this during Mahathir’s era when there was still the Internal Security Act (ISA), I would probably be in Kamunting (ISA detention centre) by now,” he said.