State Reform Party (Star Sabah) chief Jeffrey Kitingan has advised Pakatan leaders not to follow the footsteps of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Umno leaders threatening Sabahans and Sarawakians with the Sedition Act, if they wish to have a realistic chance of taking over Putrajaya in GE14.  

The Pakatan leaders would need the support of Sabah and Sarawak to win control of Putrajaya, said Kitingan in a statement.

“We will support Pakatan in the GE14,” he added, urging them not be arrogant like Umno leaders.

He said that Umno leaders and their Sabah representatives have been making excuses of "making calls for secession" as seditious or against the constitution, to prevent Sabah and Sarawak from leaving the Federation of Malaysia.  

“Instead of following the Umno-BN dictatorial regime, a diplomatic and consultative approach would be a better option to persuade Sabahans and Sarawakians to remain in the Federation,” said Kitingan, who is also the Bingkor state assemblyperson.
 
The people in Sabah and Sarawak, he stressed, knew for a fact that Sabah and Sarawak had been taken for a ride and cheated outright in the formation of Malaysia.  
 
Pointing out that Malaya needed Sabah and Sarawak more than Sabah and Sarawak needed Malaya, Kitingan said: “Without Sabah and Sarawak’s oil wealth, Malaya and Malaysia would go bankrupt well before 2019, given its current national debt of about RM700 billion.

“Sabah and Sarawak have nothing or little to gain by remaining in Malaysia with the existing arrangement as the 12th and 13th states of Malaya masquerading as Malaysia.”
 
He said Najib made a huge mistake in announcing at the Umno general assembly last year-end that the 1948 colonial Sedition Act would be amended with additions to make it seditious against calls for Sabah and Sarawak to leave Malaysia.

'Why was S'pore allowed to secede?'

“If secession is seditious and or against the constitution, why was Singapore was allowed secession in 1965? Shouldn’t the Singapore leaders then be charged for sedition if it was seditious?” asked Kitingan.
 
Not only did the federal government allow Singapore to depart, they actually signed the agreement departing with Singapore before the motion to approve the departure was tabled in Parliament on August 9, 1965 without the MPs from Singapore, he noted.

The federal Parliament was merely asked to endorse and rubber-stamp the departure, Kitingan added.
 
“Nowhere is it stated in the federal constitution that Sabah and Sarawak are not allowed to secede,” Kitingan argued.
 
He said that if the federal leaders care to listen, Sabah and Sarawak nationalists and activists are not seeking secession, but the restoration of the legitimate rights, privileges and autonomy of the Borneo states that were taken away or eroded since 1963.  

“Of course, there was a basis that led to the formation of Malaysia and if that basis is not honoured, one of the lawful and legal recourse would be a de-merger or dissolution. In such an event, it is not secession,” Kitingan stressed.
 
He said that if the federal leaders wished to have Sabah and Sarawak remain in Malaysia, a soft and diplomatic approach would probably be more successful.

Even the attorney-general had advised on this recourse, he pointed out.
 
“However, if the federal government thinks otherwise and were to charge any Sabah and Sarawak nationalist for sedition, it would be their gravest mistake.
 
“It will be a golden opportunity to open up flood gates to the international community of the dark secrets and wrong-doings against Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia. It will also mark the beginning of the end and break-up of the Malaysian federation,” he warned.