By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Nov 13: Parti Aspirasi Rakyat Sarawak (Parti Aspirasi) has named nine candidates to contest in the upcoming 17th Sabah Election (PRN-17) scheduled for Nov 29, as the party position itself to offer what it calls “genuine hope and change” to the people of Sabah.
Announcing the party’s participation today, Parti Aspirasi president Lina Soo said the decision followed extensive grassroots engagement that revealed widespread disillusionment among Sabah voters after decades of neglect, broken promises, and mismanagement by successive administrations.
“There is a clear yearning among the people of Sabah for genuine hope and change. The people of Sabah are looking for hope — and we are here to give them that hope,” she said in a statement today.
Soo presented the party’s watikah (writs) to nine candidates who will carry the Aspirasi banner in the upcoming polls.
They are Johanes Sakian in N5 Matunggung, Norman Tulang (N6 Bandau), Sylvester Molukun @ Sylvester Chin (N25 Kepayan), Richard Jimmy Majaing @ Dolly Yapp (N26 Moyog), Yakub Wahid (N29 Pantai Manis), Bainun John @ B. Nick Steyward (N35 Sindumin), Yasheer Yakub (N64 Sulabayan), Bakri Arolah (N65 Senallang), and Maulana Unding (N66 Bugaya).
Soo said Parti Aspirasi’s campaign in PRN-17 will centre on defending the sovereignty and existential identity of Sabah, emphasising that the state is a “Negara” (nation) within the Federation of Malaysia as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Constitution of Sabah.
“Sabah is a component Nation — a Negara — within the Federation of Malaysia. Aspirasi’s core election manifesto is to defend and reclaim the sovereignty of Negara Sabah, as guaranteed under MA63 and the Constitution of Sabah annexed to it,” she stressed.
Quoting the Constitution of Sabah, Part I, Article 1(1), which states that “there shall be a Head of State for Sabah to be called the Yang di-Pertua Negara,” Soo said this provision clearly signifies Sabah’s political status as a Negara within Malaysia.
She also commended Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent decision not to appeal Sabah’s 40 per cent special grant entitlement that has been denied for nearly five decades, calling it a “long-overdue acknowledgment of the major economic injustice Sabah has endured.”
However, she noted that more than 10 major breaches of MA63 remain unresolved and must be addressed if Sabah is to progress as an equal partner within the federation.
“The constitutional and legitimate platform to address these injustices done to Sabah is the State Legislative Assembly (DUN). Parti Aspirasi will expose more of these violations of MA63 in the DUN. We therefore seek to send Aspirasi representatives to reclaim Sabah’s territorial and economic sovereignty, which has long been eroded by previous administrations,” Soo asserted
Soo urged Sabahans to vote wisely in the upcoming PRN-17, reminding them that elections are not merely about changing governments but about shaping a brighter and more prosperous future for Negara Sabah.
She also called on Sabahans from all walks of life to come forward and actively participate in Parti Aspirasi’s political struggle to restore Sabah as a Negara with dignity, integrity, and prosperity for all. — DayakDaily
