State DAP chief Frankie Poon said the SRA was unlike the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between PH and the government at the federal level.
Poon, the Tanjong Papat assemblyman, said the SRA would identify and address local perennial problems as well as other issues of common interest, such as the pursuit of state rights from the federal government as per the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“Sabah people are matured in politics and they understand the nature of things that need to be done,” he told FMT.
“We don’t have to follow everything that the federal level does, but we do what our people want. The details (in the SRA) are not superficial but substantive.
“If people do not read into the content, then they will say it is the same as the federal MoU, but the SRA is definitely not a run-of-the-mill MoU.
“It’s actually not good for us but meant to be good for all Sabahans and for the future of the state.”
Analysts have argued that, after PH’s sound defeat in the Melaka polls after signing the MoU with the federal government, it might suffer another setback in Sabah where it had proposed the SRA to the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.
This came after Warisan vice-president Junz Wong’s contention that PH’s abysmal polls performance was proof that the people were unhappy with the opposition’s decision to sign the MoU with the government.
Sabah PH presented the seven-point SRA to chief minister Hajiji Noor on Nov 15. Among other things, it proposed a number of political and administrative reforms, the pursuit of state rights under the MA63 and a post-Covid-19 economic recovery plan.
The coalition said it welcomed Hajiji’s assurance that he would discuss the deal with the parties in the government to obtain a consensus.
Observers have said the essence of the SRA, despite its fine-tuning to suit the state’s needs and issues, was the same as the federal MoU, which was to find common ground to work together and thus create political stability.
Poon, however, pointed out that nothing had been agreed and signed yet between Sabah PH and GRS as far as the SRA was concerned.
“You can see that the substance and the work we are doing are different. Ultimately, we just want to create stability so that everybody is focused on working for the people,” he said.