KOTA KINABALU, Oct 24 — Incoming United Kinabalu Progressive Organisation (Upko) president Datuk Ewon Benedick said that Sabah’s rights are not to be traded or gambled after the 15th General Election (GE15).
He said that without Sabah and Sarawak, there will be no Malaysia.
Ewon further said that Malaysia was established through the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), therefore the struggle to claim the rights of Sabah belongs to all the people of this state regardless of political views.
“We cannot say that the struggle belongs to only one party, what we heard is that there is a party from Sabah claiming that it is the best party fighting for the rights of Sabah and did not want to join with anyone.
“They say we win first, then we negotiate who is the government, so how to fight for Sabah’s rights?” he said at Jelajah Harapan Sabah with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim held at Dewan La Salle Tanjung Aru here on Sunday.
Ewon pointed out that for the first time in the history of Sabah, the representatives of Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sabah have taken legal action to sue the Federal Government for not fulfilling the demand of 40 per cent of the federal revenue under Article 112 of the Federal Constitution.
“We have gone to court to claim our rights, not only in events like this we talk but in the State Assembly and Parliament we also talk about this struggle.
“Our advantage in PH is that we have gone to court to claim this right,” he said, adding that Sabah PH leaders, whether Upko, DAP or PKR, are firm in bringing to court in the fight for Sabah’s rights.
He said this matter was also discussed in the PH Presidential Council and they also informed the future Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) about their demands.
Therefore, Ewon reminded all voters to make a wise choice in this GE15.
“We don’t just choose the Members of Parliament in our area but we choose who the Prime Minister and the Federal Government will be so that we can continue the struggle to demand Sabah’s rights.
He said that the people of Sabah needed a Prime Minister from a multi-racial party so that they can see an approach of corruption-free government.
“Through Pakatan Harapan, we can ensure that the victory on November 19 belongs to PH and its future Prime Minister is from a multi-racial coalition,” he added.
“For Pakatan Harapan (PH), we have a candidate for Prime Minister, which is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), a multi-racial party and chairman of a multi-racial party coalition,” he said.
Ewon, who is also Kadamaian Assemblyman, said that other parties also have their own candidates for Prime Minister but some of them have cases that are being heard in court.
“Another candidate for Prime Minister from another coalition has been Prime Minister before but failed to manage our country throughout the Covid pandemic.
“We must reject the candidate (Prime Minister) who had been given the opportunity twice, we want a candidate for Prime Minister who has never been Prime Minister but has been crowned as the best Finance Minister in Asia,” he said. — Borneo Post
