Sabah's independence to be celebrated on Aug 31 for the first time

KOTA KINABALU: For the first time in 60 years, Sabah will officially mark its independence day on Aug 31.

The state will celebrate its inaugural "Sabah Day" in Tambunan, the interior district about 100km from here, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said.

He said the state Cabinet made the decision during its meeting last week and chose Tambunan as the venue for the inaugural celebration.

"It was also decided that the celebration to mark Sabah's important historical milestone will be held annually, with the venue to be rotated among the districts.

"Let us honour and commemorate the day which marked the end of British colonial rule in Sabah (on Aug 31, 1963) and signifies our journey of coming together as a people to establish self rule," he said here on Monday (Aug 21).

Sabah subsequently formed the Federation of Malaysia with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore on Sept 16, 1963.

He said the first Sabah Day event would be held at 3pm after the state-level National Day celebration here the same day.

Political parties like Sabah STAR led by Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) led by Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee have been campaigning to mark Sabah Day over the years.

Both parties, now members of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government, have called for Aug 31 to be gazetted as Sabah Day, similar to the move by Sarawak to mark July 22 as its independence day.

Sabah STAR and SAPP said this would accord Sabah’s recognition as a region in line with restoring its rights in keeping with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).