Did Jeffrey Kitingan get the permission of the Prime Minister to put up banners in Sabah announcing that Muhyiddin will be guest speaker at the Malaysia Day commemorative event at Batu Sumpah, Keningau on “Demi Mempertahankan Hak Kita”?

Yesterday, I said that in the Sabah general election, issues which had been buried for forty or fifty years had resurfaced like MA63 and Keningau Batu Sumpah.

I said that for the first time in the 57-year history of Malaysia, the Prime Minister was paying obeisance to the validity and legitimacy of Keningau Batu Sumpah.

I asked whether Muhyiddin will present the Keningau Batu Sumpah and the three commitments of “Ugama Bebas Dalam Sabah”, “Tanah Tanah dalam Sabah di kuasai oleh Kerajaan Sabah” and “Adat Istiadat anak rayat Sabah dihormatkan dan dipelihara oleh Kerajaan” to Parliament together with a motion declaring the government’s recognition and fulfilment of the three pledges engraved on the Keningau Batu Sumpah?

It was only after I had issued the media statement that I discovered that I had been mistaken, that Muhyiddin had not attended the Malaysia Day commemorative event at Batu Sumpah, Keningau as guest speaker on “Demi Mempertahankan Hak Kita”. He was instead in Sibu for a Malaysia Day event.

I will like to ask Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture and who organised the Malaysia Day Batu Sumpah Commemorative Event in Keningau whether he had the permission of the Prime Minister to put up banners in Sabah announcing that he (Muhyiddin) will be guest speaker at the Malaysia Day commemorative event at Batu Sumpah, Keningau on “Demi Mempertahankan Hak Kita”, a very clear hint that the Prime Minister of Malaysia was going to accord some form of recognition for the Batu Sumpah in Keningau after 57 years.

Of was the banner put up just to get a crowd although Muhyiddin never agreed to attend the Keningau event?

If it was the latter, then Jeffrey had been most dishonest and had taken the KMD communities in Sabah for a ride, which raises the question about the honesty, trustworthiness and credibility of the present batch of Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

Jeffrey said in is speech in Keningau that he would present the memorandum of the KDM native chiefs to the Prime Minister to honour the Batu Sumpah and its three commitments on freedom of religion, land rights and adat istiadat to Muhyiddin either on Malaysia Day on 16th September or latest by the next day.

Has Jeffrey done so, or is it again another game of bluff to the KDM communities by Jeffrey?

Muhyiddin announced in Sibu that the Perikatan Nasional government remained committed to ensuring that the rights of Sabahans and Sarwakians as stipulated under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) are preserved.

He also announced that on Sept. 9, the Cabinet agreed to form a Special Committee on MA63 to discuss outstanding issues pertaining to MA63.

But for the first time in the history of Malaysia on the formation of important committees, the full membership composition was not announced – indicating that the announcement was more a P.R. exercise, and that the Prime Minister himself was not serious about it.

Can Jeffrey guarantee that the Keningau Batu Sumpah will be one the issues that will be decided by the Special Committee on MA63?