KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Sangkar Rasam’s key mission after being appointed the new Sabah PKR chief is to package the party as a national political outfit and not just a Peninsular Malaysian party.
Sangkar, 60, said Sabahans needed to understand that PKR was a national party that considered the development and welfare of all Malaysians.
He said PKR was also a national party that highly respected the power-sharing concept between the three territories namely Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
"PKR recognises that Sabah was one (of three entities) that forms Malaysia," he said, in a prepared text on Thursday (Aug 11).
"One of the important commitments in the party’s constitution was that Sabah and Sarawak are given autonomy.
"Hence, that is why the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) is an agenda close to PKR," he added.
For example, Sangkar said local parties would be unable to bring any change on the issue of rising cost of goods as the prices were controlled by the federal authorities.
Sangkar, who was named by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as former state PKR chairman Datuk Christina Liew’s successor, declined to answer calls and only issued a prepared text when contacted.
Anwar had announced last Saturday (Aug 6) that Sangkar would be the Sabah PKR state leadership council chairman for the 2022-2025 period, replacing Liew who has held the post since October 2016.
Sangkar had in December last year led 16 state PKR divisional leaders in a revolt against Liew’s chairmanship, calling for Anwar to remove the former Sabah deputy chief minister as the state leadership council chairman.
