(Kota Kinabalu, Monday): Firstly,
I wish to apologize to the people of Sabah for calling on them to vote for PBS
in March 1999 Sabah state general election now that PBS has rejoined the Barisan
Nasional without mandate from the people of Sabah.
In
March 1999, I had called on the Sabah voters to make a special effort to vote
for PBS to support the nation-wide campaign for justice, freedom, democracy and
good governance, and I even call on the voters of Tawau and Sandakan to vote for
former Sabah DAP leaders, Samson Chin and Ang Lian Hai, although I was attacked
by another former Sabah DAP leaders - but all this was for the larger interests
of ensuringt the survival of democracy where the voice of the ordinary people
could be heard and fully represented in Sabah and Malaysia.
The
defection of PBS to the Barisan Nasional is not in the interests of the people
of Sabah but for the interests of the party and its leaders, and for this
reason, it is a major setback for democracy in Sabah and Malaysia.
Secondly,
I wish to bring the message of the DAP's "No
to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957" People's Awareness Campaign to Sabah,
as the campaign to defend the 44-year 1957 Merdeka Constitution and "social
contract" reached by our forefathers from the major communities and
reaffirmed by the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in 1963 on the formation of
Malaysia that Malaysia is a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and
progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state
require the support of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, territory
or political beliefs.
The
people of Sabah, like the people of Peninsular Malaya and Sarawak, must say
a loud and clear "No to 911,
No to 929, Yes to 1957" in one voice, to declare (I) that Malaysians do not
want any terrorism in the form of the Sept. 11 attacks in Malahysia; (ii) that
Malaysia does not accept the
"929 Declaration" of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad at the Gerakan national assembly on September 29 last year that Malaysia
is an Islamic state and also reject the PAS model of an Islamic state; and (iii)
that the people want to defend and preserve the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and
social contract and 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia remain a democratic,
secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the
official religion but not as an Islamic state.
As
a result of the PBS' defection back to Barisan Nasional, there is a total
political vacuum in Sabah where the voices and grievances of the ordinary people
have been shut out from all political avenues - and there is no better example
of this political vacuum than the silence of the Sabah political arena on the
people's disagreement with the "929 Declaration" of the Prime Minister
to transform Malaysia from a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation into
an Islamic state.
The
PBS should have been the loudest voice in Sabah to oppose Mahathir's "929
Declaration" but it has become its strongest defender, in order to get
accepted back into the Barisan Nasional.
This
political vacuum in Sabah will have to be filled by the DAP, as whether Malaysia
succeeds in defending and preserving the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and
"social contract" and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement depends on the unity
of all Malaysians, in Peninsular Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.
(10/6/2002)