Dr Jeffrey: Gabungan Sabah the only coalition not beholden to Kuala Lumpur

KOTA KINABALU: Voting for local opposition coalition Gabungan Sabah (GS) will benefit Sabahans and topple the Barisan Nasional government, said Sabah STAR president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (pic).

Dr Jeffrey said like the other opposition parties PKR and DAP in Pakatan Harapan, the GS wants to change the federal and state government.

He said claims by some quarters saying that voting for GS will not change the government was untrue.

He said such claims were meant to discourage Sabahans from voting for GS.

Jeffrey said this was also because of PH’s agenda to control Sabah and exploit its rich resources and oil revenues.

He said since DAP and PKR were peninsula-based parties, Sabah will not benefit fully from the oil and gas revenue.

“We will be implementing Sabah rights unlike PKR and DAP which will have to follow what their political masters in Kuala Lumpur decide,” he said. 

“PKR and DAP as well as Warisan, with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its political master, will be answerable to the leadership in the peninsula,” Jeffrey said.

“Unlike them, GS has no political masters and is only answerable to the people of Sabah,” he added.
 
As such, he said PH and Warisan can never be a fully autonomous Sabah government and can never truly implement in full Sabah's Rights as GS could .  
 
Dr Jeffrey said this was the reason why GS was the only coalition fighting for Sabah’s oil and gas to be returned as well as the full 40% net revenues derived from Sabah.  

He said PH and Warisan only promised a 20% cash payment or “oil royalties” and would take the other 80% instead of returning the oil and gas ownership rights to Sabah.  

Dr Jeffrey said with the implementation of Sabah rights with full autonomy and the revenue rights returned to Sabah, the GS will be able to undertake the rapid development of Sabah. 

“It will be Sabahans who will be determining and charting their own development and future, not somebody else deciding it from Kuala Lumpur,” he said.