Kota Kinabalu: “The Court Order obtained by the police authorities on Monday restraining the Himpunan May Day (HMD) in Kota Kinabalu and naming us as defendants is misleading and wrong and has given the wrong perception of our involvement and of the HMD Rally to the public” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief cum Bingkor State Assemblyman and Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing in a joint statement released today.
The issues raised by Bersih Sabah and the 40 NGOs through the HMD Rally are legitimate grievances of Sabahans and should be addressed by the federal and Sabah governments.
The police authorities instead of going to Court ought to look at the issues and take the necessary action to address the issues some of which have reached epic proportions due to the lack of action of the police in tackling the problems.
In Miri, the actions of the Sarawak government led by their Chief Minister on the 1,500 illegal immigrants have resulted in the foreign Suluk community agreeing to give up on their illegal presence in Sarawak.
On the other hand in Sabah, the lack of action including by the police have led to up to 1.5 million illegal immigrants being given Ics and MyKads dubiously and then wrong entered into the electoral rolls.
The police should not have obstructed to the holding of the HMD Rally as it is a freedom enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Moreover, peaceful assembly is allowed under the Peaceful Assembly Act.
The police action and the Court Order also serve to confirm the recent statement by Tun Dr. Mahathir that Malaysia is now a police state.
It is now the 21st century and the world order has moved forward and adopted a modern democratic approach with rights of the people as the ultimate people power.
52 years after the formation of Malaysia, the rights of Sabah and Sarawak are still being denied and eroded. Instead of listening to the people and their legitimate grievances, the federal government is putting up all barriers to deny the rights of Sabah and denying the rights of Sabahans and Sarawakians to voice their unhappiness.
It is not wrong, legally or morally, for Sabahans to wish for a better deal and future for Sabah in the Federation of Malaysia.
It is not wrong, certainly it is not criminal, for any Sabahan to demand the revocation of dubiously given Ics and MyKads, clean up the electoral rolls, resolve the illegal immigrants probelms and release of the complete 5,000 pages of the RCI notes of proceedings as proposed in the HMD Rally by Bersih Sabah.
The police in Sabah should stop acting and be used as tools of their colonial masters in Putrajaya and Bukit Aman.
Source: Google Syndication
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