Now that the country has a new leader, a prompt and wise decision on the building of a new general hospital in Kota Kinabalu City and a district hospital in Nabawan as promised by the new Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, is a legitimate expectation of the people, said Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) president Yong Teck Lee today.

yong teck lee and sapp In a statement to Malaysiakini, Yong, a former Sabah chief minister, said the party will also continue to press for the fulfillment of the legitimate interests of Malaysians in Sabah under the party’s “Eight-Point Declaration”.

For instance, Sapp will continue to press for Sabah autonomy and non-racial politics. Socio-economic imbalances such as the high costs of living, highest poverty rate, low quality education, health care and social problems caused by illegal immigrants must remain high on the national agenda.

Discriminatory policies as recent as the unfair subsidy on Super Tempatan 15 percent rice, the non-availability of the auto-scrapping scheme and the expiry of the fuel rebate must be removed.

Unfair polices such as the cabotage policy and Felda’s profit-oriented policy must be reviewed without delay, he added.

The Sapp leader said the new administration should also expedite the Borneonisation of the federal civil service in the Borneo states as intended in 1963 upon the formation of Malaysia.

Abdullah’s repeated broken promises

“Sapp shall keep alive the agenda on the return of Labuan to Sabah and an equitable sharing of 20 percent petroleum and gas resources by oil producing states namely Sabah, Sarawak and Trengganu,” Yong said.

He said his party’s only hope for Sabahan leaders in the BN government is that they will use the new era of the Najib premiership for Sabah’s legitimate interests.

Last day of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Najib Abdul Razak takes over as prime minister in Putrajaya On Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s premiership, Yong said Abdullah’s repeated broken promises to solve the illegal immigrants issue and to cancel the gas pipeline from Kimanis to Bintulu in Sarawak are costly legacies that Malaysians in Sabah will have to bear for a long time to come.

“Whereas Malaysians will likely remember his administration for failing to make any decision on the use of English to teach mathematics and science which has affected the future of thousands of young people, the complete lack of commitment to solve the Queen Elizabeth Hospital debacle is killing people slowly to the present day.”

“Word is already coming out from people in the medical profession that QEH patients are dying unnecessarily,” he said, adding that this is negligence on the part of decision-makers and an indictment of the BN government under his leadership.