Kota Kinabalu, Thursday, 6 November 2025
Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan’s long and consistent struggle for Sabah rights over two generations have brought real prospects of success in the coming Sabah elections.
Today, everyone is talking about the 40% revenue claim which has now reached the status of a High Court judgement and national mainstream.
It was Dr. Jeffrey, the fearless Sabahan, who documented the 40% claim in his book Justice For Sabah published in 2006, almost 20 years ago. I am proud to hold a copy which was autographed personally by Dr. Jeffrey when we both were in the opposition.
The then Foreign Minister, (now Tan Sri), Anifah Aman helped to propel the 40% claim to the then Federal government. Although Dr. Jeffrey and I were in the opposition, we were allowed to speak on MA63, the 40% entitlement and Borneonisation at a government institution, namely University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2015. Those days, being in opposition, we were not even allowed in a village balai raya but we were able to speak to a 2,000 audience which included top civil servants, professors and university students. That single event hosted by Tan Sri Anifah had pushed the MA63 to the national media.
Apart from Sabah’s two-fifth entitlement and Borneonisation, the book also touches on 20-point, Borneo States are partners of equal status, parliamentary seat distribution formula, illegal population of Sabah, native rights, and unfair share of wealth.
Now it is already 2025, ten years later, we all Malaysians in Sabah must join hands to further our common struggle for Sabah rights.
Sabah election a golden opportunity to have a coalition government of local parties
The coming Sabah elections is a golden opportunity for Sabahans to unite with a common purpose that Sabah shall be governed by a coalition of Sabah local parties only.
Only then, can Dr. Jeffrey’s struggle continues to new heights when he progresses further in the Sabah government. Bearing in mind that Dr. Jeffrey is also a senior M, he can continue to take the Sabah struggle to the federal level.
The coming election is our final chance to decide: Do we govern ourselves, or do we be subservient to the dictatorship?
People want the Sarawak successful example of a coalition of local parties, not the dictatorship of Malaya parties nor of one single Sabah party.
The mandate must go to a unified coalition of Sabah local parties. This is the only way that guarantees full MA63 rights and ensures all decisions made by the state government are determined here, by Sabahans, for Sabah.
Datuk Yong Teck Lee
SAPP President