KOTA KINABALU – Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has revved up its show of unhappiness over Labuan’s poor growth and economic condition, and has now called for the island to become autonomous so as to manage its own economic and developmental affairs.
PBS vice-president Datuk Peter Mak, who is also the party’s Labuan division chief, said that the island’s future can be better secured if it is given autonomy, as current development there under the federal administration is below expectations.
He said this when commenting on recent calls to return the Federal Territory of Labuan to Sabah amidst the alleged failure of the federal government to develop the island as promised and envisaged, following its federalisation 38 years ago.
Labuan’s territory, which includes the main island and six smaller isles, was originally part of Sabah. However, the state ceded it in 1984 in order for it to become a federal territory.
Last month, PBS president Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili lamented that Labuan is still in a state of economic infancy despite nearly four decades of federalisation with numerous commercial laws and financial policies formed to drive its international off-shore centre.
Ongkili, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs), said the federal government must “recommit” to the development of Labuan as a regional economic and financial investment hub.
He said that Putrajaya has achieved very little after promising to develop the island’s economy and transform it into a financial hub, letting it become stagnant over the last five years.
Mak today opined that Labuan can be designated as a “special development zone”.
“We acknowledge and recognise that Labuan has developed under federal administration, though it is below expectations with much more that needs to be done.
“To address the situation, we believe that Labuan’s future can be better secured by granting it autonomy in managing its own economic and development affairs as a special development zone.
“This can be done while Labuan continues to be under the purview of the federal government as Labuan needs the federal government’s continuous support for its progress and development,” he said in a statement today.
However, Mak said the crucial decision on autonomy and development of Labuan as a special zone must be made by the people of Labuan themselves through a referendum.
A referendum would allow Labuan, with its distinct characteristics compared with the other federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, the opportunity to chart its own destiny in line with the overall development agenda of the country, he added.
Labuan is presently an opposition-held parliamentary constituency, and its MP is Rozman Isli of Warisan. – The Vibes, April 17, 2022.
