Jeffrey: It's all about Sabah rights

KOTA KINABALU: Never give up fighting for Sabah rights according to the Malaysia Agreement 1963, said Parti Sabah STAR president Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan.

“I have been trying to get our rights back for so long and I hope the support I get from all of you is not to me alone, but the struggle of getting our rights back according to MA63,” he said during a native rights forum with various NGOs in Tambunan Sunday.

He said if he is no longer able to fight for those rights, he hopes supporters will continue the journey.

“I hope we will be able to achieve our struggle in this sense and never stop until we succeed,” Dr. Jeffrey added.

The event – Himpunan Hak Asasi Rakyat untuk Sabah (HARUS), was attended by over a thousand people including representatives from NGOs such as Borneo Dayak Forum International, Global Coordinator Indigenous People Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation Philippines, Centre for Research and Advocacy – North East India and Indigenous People Alliance from Cambodia.

The representatives also shared their views on human and native right advocacy in their countries.

Organising chairperson Terrence Yong said during the apolitical event, they spoke on the need for unity among Sabahans to get back what has been lost in the MA63.

He said the rights include the return of 40% revenue for Sabah, justice in court, native customary lands to be respected and given to its original owners, and the acknowledgment of Sabah and Sarawak as partners of the federation of Malaysia.

“We also want the government to issue new Sabah ICs for real Sabahans,” he said.

He said these and other rights of the Sabah people as written in the MA63 should be delivered as promised when Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya in the forming of Malaysia in 1963.