KOTA KINABALU - The people of Sabah do not want the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) position, says Warisan information chief Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman.
The incumbent Sepanggar MP said Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal had been offered the position since the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government administration which was led by then prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and during the federal government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
"However, we rejected the offer. What we want is the full and immediate implementation of the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) that was agreed upon between Sabah, Sarawak and the Federation of Malaya in the establishment of Malaysia.
"We do not want to hear any other series of negotiation through committees that does not bring a solution and we no longer want to hear excuses such as waiting until the federal government’s financial position to be stable for MA63 to be finally implemented," he said commenting on the offer regarding the DPM position representing Sabah and Sarawak that was brought up by Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) on Monday.
He added that the financial position of the federal government will not improve, taking into account the misconduct and corruption, abuse of power and cronyism which continued to be widespread in Malaysia.
"We want equal rights, a fair formula and the equality for Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the formation of this country and we no longer want to be abandoned and being excluded until Sabah and Sarawak will fall further behind from the development and infrastructure point of view.
"By creating the DPM position for Sabah and Sarawak, does that mean leaders from Sabah and Sarawak could not hold the title of Prime Minister in the future?" he said.
He said what was the meaning of Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula as equal partners in the Malaysian Agreement if the Prime Minister position will only be given to leaders in the peninsula.
"What the Sabah and Sarawak people want is the immediate implementation of all articles agreed upon by past leaders during the formation of Malaysia," he said.