Christopher Mandut, the acting chief of PBS Youth, said the think tank should be questioning the composition of the committee, which he alleged was lopsided to favour Putrajaya’s interests.

He told FMT it appeared that IDS had lost its importance as an advisor to the state government since the regime change in the last general election.

IDS was set up by the PBS government in 1985 to promote research-based decision-making. Its current chairman is former state secretary Simon Sipaun. Chief Minister Shafie Apdal appointed him to the post last July. He replaced Clarence Bongkos.

The think tank’s CEO, Hasnol Ayub, has reportedly been told to go on leave.

Shafie is a member of IDS, as are Solidariti Tanah Airku president Jeffrey Kitingan and former chief minister Yong Teck Lee.

According to Mandut, IDS is supposed to be the state government’s main advisor on the question of Sabah rights.

He said he was therefore “amazed” that it made no comment when the composition of the steering committee was announced early this month.

“Malayan representatives outnumber Sabah representatives overwhelmingly,” he said. “Who would believe it’s going to be a fair and just discussion?”

Noting that the Sarawak government had decided against being represented in the committee, he said this meant that Sabah would be alone to face Peninsular Malaysia representatives.

He described the chairman of the panel, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as a domineering person and added: “I can imagine how the junior politicians representing Sabah will crumble under pressure.”

He said he wondered whether Sarawak’s announcement that it would not be part of the committee prompted IDS to give any advice to the Kota Kinabalu administration.

“If it did give its advice,” he added, “then we can conclude that Shafie did not heed it. It goes to show what he thinks of the current IDS leadership.”