He said that as far as he knows, Muhyiddin did not mean to equate the two states with the federal territories, including Labuan.

“That’s not what he meant because Labuan is on a lower level compared to the states,” the STAR president said on the sidelines of an event here last night.

He said what Muhyiddin probably meant was that Sabah and Sarawak were two separate “territories” equal to Malaya, making up the three “territories” of Malaysia.

Kitingan said that following Muhyiddin’s remarks during a visit to Sarawak recently, there had been several interpretations as to what the prime minister meant when he described the two states as “territories”.

“Sabah and Sarawak are on a higher level compared to the states in the peninsula. So what he meant by ‘wilayah’ was in the context of Malaysia’s formation,” he said, adding that the two states had equal status with the peninsula.

He highlighted the need to come up with a “more accurate and clear” term to describe Sabah and Sarawak “to avoid any chances of confusion in future”.

On a posting by a government department in Labuan that Sabah and Sarawak should be referred to as “territories” instead of states that went viral yesterday, Kitingan said he did not know how the matter came about.

“If it didn’t come from the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) or a department with locus standi, don’t believe it,” he said.

The department had posted on its social media account that Sabah and Sarawak would no longer be called states but territories, effective immediately.

Following this, social media, including WhatsApp groups, were awash with the issue, with some questioning why a lower rung department would make such a significant announcement instead of JPM.

The department concerned has since taken down the post.