SABAH Pakatan Harapan (PH) has dismissed claims their leaders have been keeping silent over the 40% revenue rights issue last week and have initiated seat discussions among themselves and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah for the state election.
Its chairman Datuk Christina Liew said the alliance appeared distant from the appeal because their leaders were tied up with their respective duties.
She also said the issue of seat distribution for the upcoming state election was not brought up in the Sabah PH meeting last Saturday night.
“We are not distancing ourselves from the 40% special grant court case against the Federal Government in the Court of Appeal.
"The reality is that some of our elected representatives are working at the federal level and some at the state level, while others are overseas.
“When the whole fiasco happened, I was in China myself. So we had to wait for everyone to return. It was just a question of timing,” she told reporters in Kota Kinabalu today.
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah leader from Usno, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin, and several opposition leaders from Warisan have criticised Sabah PH leaders for their lackluster response to the court of appeal fiasco last week.
These attacks could be seen as an attempt to force Sabah PH to be clear on their stand on whether they support the Sabah cause to restore state rights or remain loyal to their federal affiliation.
This is largely because Putrajaya’s is trying to stop Sabah Law Society from carrying out a review on the 40% revenue rights.
The move is seen by the majority of Sabahans as a move by the federal government to deny Sabah’s constitutional rights.
“This is not true, we are not keeping quiet. We are together in supporting the Sabah and Federal governments,” said Liew.
She said it was Sabah PH leaders who first challenged Sabah’s 40% revenue rights in court before the Sabah Law Society did.
Sabah PH lawmakers had filed an originating summons on the matter but later withdrew it, with the option to file fresh originating summons if constitutional conditions were not fulfilled.
Liew said Sabah PH still has options if the ongoing negotiations between Sabah and the Federal government on Malaysia Agreement 1963 were not concluded satisfactorily in July this year.
“But we are confident all the state rights will be fulfilled. Both governments are working to resolve this issue. We still have alternatives. We stand firm in defending state rights, but we may approach it differently,” she said.
Meanwhile, on claims that Sabah PH would be working with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah in the forthcoming elections, Liew clarified that they have not reached that stage yet.
“Right now, our focus is to continue supporting the existing government and serving the people. We are not here to decide who should get what seat.
“This is why this topic was not brought up for discussion in the last Sabah PH meeting. We have not completed our term; we can’t be talking about seats already,” she said.
If both Sabah PH and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah decide to form an alliance for the upcoming Sabah Elections, a total of 12 parties will have to share 73 state assembly seats.
Sabah PH comprises PKR, DAP, Upko, and Amanah, while GRS comprises eight parties: Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, Usno, Parti Bersatu Sabah, Liberal Democratic Party, Sabah Progressive Party, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, Sabah STAR, and Parti Cinta Sabah.
Sabah is expected to hold its next state election in 2025. – The Vibes, May 28, 2024.
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