KUCHING, May 4 — Sabah politician Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan urged Sarawakians tonight to vote in candidates from his State Reform Party (STAR) on May 7 to protect their rights as laid down in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
The chairman of the Sabah STAR chapter claimed that greater focus to uphold Sarawak rights was due to persistent pressure from his party’s candidates over the years.
“STAR’s candidates, when they are elected on May 7, will dare to speak up to defend state’s rights in the State Legislative Assembly,” he said during a political rally here in support of the party’s candidates for the Sarawak election this Saturday.
Sarawak STAR is fielding 11 candidates, including its president Lina Soo (Batu Lintang), permanent chairman Johnny Aput (Bukit Semuja), secretary general Simon Tiong Ing Tung (Nangka), Buln Ribos (Serembu) and Teo Kuang Kim (Padungan).
Soo is the president of the Sarawak Association of People’s Aspirations (SAPA) and a leader of Sarawak For Sarawak (S4S) civil movement.
Jeffrey said the party’s candidates are all activists with SAPA and S4S, which have been fighting for greater autonomy for Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia.
“They are the ones who first started talking about taking back Sarawak’s rights from the federal government, the Malaysia Agreement and Inter-Governmental Committee Report and calling on the Sarawak government to declare July 22 as Sarawak Independence Day,” the Bingkor assemblyman said.
He said they have organised public rallies and forums to create awareness on the Malaysia Agreement, Inter-Governmental Committee Report and 18-Point Agreement among the Sarawakians.
He said Tan Sri Adenan Satem only started talking about Sarawak’s rights after he became the chief minister in February 2014.
“Now, the chief minister is talking about reclaiming those rights which were surrendered to the federal government over the years,” Jeffrey said.
He claimed the efforts by STAR activists to be responsible for Adenan’s recent announcement of July 22 as Sarawak Independence Day.
He also claimed September 16 as a Malaysia Day in 2010 was due to his party’s representatives championing the issue in public rallies and forums.
