KOTA KINABALU, Sept 16 — Putrajaya must take seriously the brewing discontent among the people in Sabah and Sarawak, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He also lauded elected representatives in the two east Malaysian states who are fighting for development equal to that in the peninsula, and urged them to continue their struggle.

“Federal ministers and officials who are movers and shakers must not pay lip service. They must do real work with fairness and consideration to address the development imbalance between both states and Peninsular Malaysia.

“Ministers and elected representatives in Sarawak and Sabah must continue to fight for more development without the fear of losing their position and status.

“They must speak not just to the gallery but to the powers that be to fulfil the needs of Sarawak and Sabah. After all, that is what we are there for,” he had told The Borneo Post.

Wan Junaidi, who is Santubong MP, advised Sarawakians and Sabahans not to be influenced by the secessionists, saying that both states have a lot to lose if they left Malaysia.

He then said policies under immigration, national registration, customs and foreign service, will be issues to contend with if the states were to leave Malaysia.

“Defence also needs big requirements in terms of soft and hard wares, and so do the police. Sarawak alone has 2,100km of porous border and 1,500km of coastline. The army, navy, maritime, and coastal security need to be introduced. We can’t just assume everything is peaceful out there.”

Wan Junaidi said Sarawak and Sabah must be well protected from all threats at all times, and with disputes at its height now, they would be better off sticking to the bigger federation than exist as small independent entities.

He also branded Doris Jones, a UK-based political activist behind the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia group as a “disgruntled politician”, in spite of claims that she was non-partisan and apolitical.

“She must know what politics is. Anything that involves the government, governance, and management of the country is politics. If she wants to get involved (in SSKM), she is a politician. And if she is angry and unsatisfied, then she is a disgruntled politician. If not yet, she will.”