NONE Some 70 Sabahans gave their support for a resolution to allow all East Malaysians living in the Peninisula to vote by post.

The resolution was raised at a forum in Kuala Lumpur, which DAP’s Kota Kinabalu MP Hiew King Cheu ( left ) organised to get feedback on the many problems faced by Sabahans living in the Klang Valley.

The call for postal voting rights is among six resolutions raised and supported at the meeting.

The others include:

- Concern over the socio-economic plight of Sabahans left homeless and scavenging for food, from garbage bins outside restaurants or depending on food dontated by NGOs,

- Concern over Sabah's long-standing problems such as illegal immigrants, poverty, lack of basic infrastructure, and the denial of 20 percent oil royalty;

- Acknowledging the failure of nation-building which for the past 47 years has excluded Sabahans on equal employment opportunities;

- Calling for a total transformation of federal and Sabah state policies, and where relevant, the Selangor state policies, to address political, educational and socio-economic-cultural and citizenship issues faced by Sabahans in the Klang Valley, and to make Sabah ‘one of the most liveable places and a leading economic region in Asia’; and

- Calling for a royal commission of inquiry to determine whether the ‘hopes and dreams’ of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia in 1963 were fulfilled or betrayed.

Forum a first step

Among the speakers at the forum were DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang, PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, PAS central committee member Siti Mariah Mahmud, Selangor executive councillor Teresa Kok and St Francis of Assisi parish priest Fr Valentine Gompok.

NONE Lim said the forum is the first step for Sabahans in the Klang Valley in seeking a solution to their problems here and in Sabah.

He said that something had gone wrong over the past two generations since Sabah and Sarawak agreed to form Malaysia, where the youths are forced to go to West Malaysia to earn a decent living.

Lim added that the BN government only rewarded the states' leaders for serving Sabah and Sarawak to BN as “fixed deposits” in the March 2008 elections, yet the man on the street continues to face the same problems.

“That is why we need to change the power equation. What is important is to get the voice of Sabahans across, to get serious attention on their issues,” he said.