KUCHING, Jan 11: An entry ban into Sarawak did not deter Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan from speaking at the Movement of Change, Sarawak (MoCS) forum here today.
The Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Sabah Star) president, who was scheduled to speak at the forum titled “Independence: The Final Destination”, took part in a 30 minutes live streaming to address some 200 people in attendance at the DBNA hall.
Jeffrey, in a video conference from his home in Sabah, talked about matters concerning the route for independence for Sabah, as well as the route that Sarawak could take.
The Keningau MP shared about how the formation of Malaysia came about and how the people can bring development to the state through political maturity.
“So what happened was, the idea of independence to Malaysia was used to entice Sabah and Sarawak to be part of this Malaysia project and through Malaysia, we are supposed to gain independence.
“So my understanding was that Malaysia was just a transition from Sabah and Sarawak to move from being self-government and eventually independence,” he said.
He recalled that some of the leaders would know what had actually happened especially with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). He claimed that some of the leaders were rushed into signing the important documents.
“And the rest is history,” he said.
He alleged that Sabah, through its state legislative assembly had actually declared independence on Aug 1, 1963, but it was not gazetted into federal law.
“Since we have gained independence, we need to inform the United Nations of the change in status of self-government to independence. The route will need to go through a few steps and procedures before we can achieve full independence.”
He believed that Sarawakians are now politically matured and know what to decide for their future.
Therefore, he urged Sarawakian voters to vote wisely in the upcoming state election as it will determine the fate of the state and the upcoming direction of Sarawak in the future.
On Friday, Jeffrey had complained that he was not allowed entry into Sarawak to chair a Dayak International Organisation’s meeting and to speak at the MoCS forum.
He alleged that he had applied for a special entry pass to attend the activities but received a negative reply. — DayakDaily
