Jeffrey wants a strong message from Batu Sapi

Outgoing Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan is hoping against hope that the opposition will wrest victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat in the Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election tomorrow.

However, he is not getting his hopes up too high - just being cautiously optimistic.

Alternatively, Jeffrey will settle for the voters giving Barisan Nasional and its candidate Linda Tsen of the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) only a razor-thin margin of victory.

A razor-thin margin, he said, would send the ruling coalition a strong message that it cannot be business as usual in Sabah and Sarawak if it wants to stay in power in the two states.

"The BN cannot be allowed to win in Batu Sapi without a rap on the knuckles at the same time," said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey said he hoped the voters of Batu Sapi would send a strong message to the BN that they, like the rest of Sabahans and Sarawakians, would not continue to be taken for granted.

"Not many people realise that the national budget of some RM200 billion-odd for next year allocates only four percent each to Sabah and Sarawak," said Jeffrey. "This is a pittance, very humiliating considering the grinding poverty in these two states after years of neglect."

He questioned the wisdom of the BN in neglecting the needs of the two Borneo states, which the ruling coalition hails as its electoral "fixed deposits".

'Price to pay for this arrogance'

This is no way to treat Sabah and Sarawak, which contribute 54 parliamentary seats to keep Umno in power in Putrajaya, he added. "There will be a price to pay for this arrogance in the next general election."

Jeffrey said he didn't want to stress so much on Sabah and Sarawak rights in just a parliamentary by-election, for such an issue would best be articulated in a general election and across the political divide in the two states.

The Malaysia Agreement, he added, had declared that the federal government would be shared in equality and partnership among Sabah, Sarawak and peninsular Malaysia, based on the notion of three territories making up the federation, not 13 states.

Jeffrey co-founded PBS together with his brother Pairin in 1985, but only joined the party in 1994 upon his release from detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA), on the eve of a snap state election.

Jeffrey has a standing invitation from Pairin, reiterated twice recently, to re-join PBS. He has rebuffed these attempts on the grounds that his old party is toothless on the matter of Sabah and Sarawak rights.