Malaysia is not 'Tanah Melayu', Sabah DCM refutes Tajuddin
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Wilfred Madius Tangau (above) has refuted Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's assertion in the Dewan Rakyat that everyone must acknowledge that Malaysia is "Tanah Melayu".
Such a mindset, the Upko president said, was dangerous and ignored the presence of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Wilfred Madius Tangau (above) has refuted Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman's assertion in the Dewan Rakyat that everyone must acknowledge that Malaysia is "Tanah Melayu".
Such a mindset, the Upko president said, was dangerous and ignored the presence of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation.
"This (Tajuddin's remarks) is factually and historically wrong," Wilfred, who is also Tuaran MP, said at a press conference at the Parliament lobby.
Tajuddin had on Monday said that while the rights of non-Malays should be protected, everyone should acknowledge that they live in "Tanah Melayu" and bumiputera have special privileges.
Wilfred said such remarks showed that the Umno MP still had the mindset that this was still the Federation of Malaya and not Malaysia.
This mindset, he added, if also held by the heads of ministries and government agencies, would lead to Sabah and Sarawak being left out of the country's development.
"We in Sabah and Sarawak would be afterthoughts. They will make development plans, supposedly for Malaysia, but only really refers to Malaya.
"Thus the sidelining of Sabah and Sarawak would continue," he said.
He said even in terms of land mass, the peninsula or Malaya, only accounted for 40 percent of Malaysia while Sabah and Sarawak made up the other 60 percent.
"This makes Sabah and Sarawak the tanah besar (mainland) of Malaysia," he said.
He then jested that perhaps Malaysia could even consider following Indonesia's example and move its capital to Borneo.
Wilfred had previously called on Sabah and Sarawak to support a gambit to name Warisan president Shafie Apdal as a prime minister candidate.
Meanwhile, on a separate matter, the lawmaker also explained why his party Upko defected from BN in 2018 to join forces with Warisan and Pakatan Harapan.
Wilfred said at the May 2018 general election, it was clear that 60 percent of the people of Sabah wanted a change of government and hence, Upko's supreme council decided to respect the people's decision and throw their support behind Warisan.
He said there was no horse-trading involved in the decision.
He was responding to Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin, who yesterday questioned in the Dewan Rakyat if Upko's defection also meant that Sabah was ruled by a "backdoor" government.
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