Republic of Sabah North Borneo - RSNB

PBK president Voon Lee Shan (left) and the party’s election director, Raymond Thong, at the press conference today.

KUCHING: Sarawak has the right to seek independence from the federation of Malaysia, claims Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan.

Voon, a former DAP man, was responding to Parti Sarawak Bersatu president Wong Soon Koh, who reportedly urged Sarawakians not to be “fooled” by talk of independence on the election campaign trail.

At a press conference today, Voon said it was not seditious to seek the state’s independence, adding that the Federal Constitution did not prohibit it.

“If Sarawak wants to exit Malaysia, it could emulate Singapore. Singapore helped form Malaysia in 1963, but exited Malaysia after negotiations to patch up the sour relationship Singapore had with Malaya failed.

“If it could be treason to seek independence by peaceful means, then Lee Kuan Yew could have been arrested and charged with treason under Section 121 of the Penal Code,” he said.

Voon claimed that most Sarawakians wanted independence for the state, based on “assessments” conducted by his party.

“It is for this reason that PBK will seek independence for Sarawak if the party captures the state government in the 12th Sarawak elections,” he said.

Source: Free Malaysia Today

Parti Bumi Kenyalang president Voon Lee Shan says the party will negotiate for independence with the federal government if it wins Saturday’s elections.

KUCHING: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan claims that the party’s push for Sarawak’s independence from Malaysia is starting to gather traction in rural areas, where people’s awareness of their rights used to be low.

Voon said the message of independence had previously failed to reach the ground in rural areas, where internet coverage was poor.

“Even newspapers could not reach them,” he told FMT. “I think that’s why people were not really aware of the matter of Sarawak’s independence.

“But our election candidates have been going deep into the interiors and villages to tell the people of PBK’s plans to lead Sarawak to independence. They now realise that we have a right to independence.

“The idea has caught fire. They had never heard of such a thing before but their eyes are now opened.”

Voon, who was elected the Batu Lintang assemblyman in 2006, said rural folk would be particularly incensed by “Malaya’s” control of Sarawak’s oil and gas resources.

He criticised the recent constitutional amendment giving Sabah and Sarawak equal status with Peninsular Malaysia as insufficient, saying Sarawak should be given a bigger share of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.

Currently, Sarawak has 31 of the 222 Dewan Rakyat seats.

Voon said it was better for Sarawak to chart its own path by going independent, adding that there was no need for a referendum to be held if PBK were to form the state government.

“That would mean people are supporting us to be in the government and to give us power. With that power, we will negotiate for independence with the federal government.”

He also said a loss for PBK would not spell its end, noting that the fight for Sarawak’s independence had been going on since the 1960s.

Voon, a former policeman turned lawyer, said PBK’s pursuit of independence for Sarawak must be through legal and peaceful means, like Mahatma Gandhi’s fight for India’s independence.

“I wish for Sarawak to be independent in my lifetime,” he said. “That’s my dream. If we form the government, it will not be a long process. A nation can be born in a few days.”

Source: Free Malaysia Today

"Indonesia will invade Sabah and Sarawak if they seek independence". We hear it all the time.

But the truth about the confrontation is because Indonesia wanted a Borneo referendum before the formation of Malaysia, it's not because they want to invade the Borneon States."

"The press report is interesting in that despite Gen. Suharto's extreme right wing tendencies, he still upheld the anti-colonial policy of the previous Sukarno gov't in opposing Malaysia had rejected the Cobbold Commission Report as unreliable on the ground that did not have legal basis. 

The legal basis was the compliance with UNGAR 1541 Principle 9 requirement to allow the exercise of self-determination by the people in a referendum on the Malaysia Question that is, the people's consent must be freely given.

The Manila Accord (made by Malaya with Indonesia and the Philippines) was to correct this by making Malaysia formation subject to the pre-condition that the people’s wishes (consent) must be assessed by way of a referendum in compliance with the UNGAR 1541 Principle 9 requirement. But this was not properly done.

However, the British & Malayan governments diverted this to a UN “assessment”. As the proponents of Malaysia, they were keen to avoid not only a referendum but also to avoid the scrutiny of the UN Decolonization Committee which would have insisted that UNGAR 1541 be complied with. This was seen how the UN officials had colluded to right the assessment results n favour of the British Malayan plan.

The British Gov't had superficially claimed that the transfer of SS to Malaya was part of its "decolonization" under UNGAR 1541 for the colonies to federate with an independent state.

A properly UN-supervised referendum should have allowed the people 2 options:

(a) choose to "federate with Malaya & Singapore or

(b) choose independence

After General Suharto gained power in the bloody Sept coup, Konfrontasi ceased with the 1966 Peace Treaty. The main term of the treaty with Malaysia was that the M'sian Gov't agreed to conduct a vote to confirm the people's decision on the federation. This was never done as with most other promises on Malaysia rights."

Source: Conan Drum

Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan said MACC could have easily called him on the phone to ask him to present himself for questioning at their office. (Facebook pic)

KUCHING: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan has claimed he was “arrested” by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) this morning in two videos posted on his Facebook account.

In the first video, Voon claimed that he was stopped by the enforcement officers while he was driving, with his keys taken away and at least four personnel surrounding his car.

“I think I’m in danger. My life is under threat. I don’t know whether these people are robbers or what.

“They didn’t show any identification. I was shocked, I don’t feel safe now,” he said in the first video posted around 8am.

“They should have called me on my phone instead of stopping my car like that. It’s not very proper,” he added.

In the next video, one of the officers could be heard informing Voon that they were just carrying out their duty to serve him a notice to be present for questioning by the MACC.

“So we’re serving you this notice. You need to come with us to the MACC office,” said the officer, urging Voon to cooperate.

Voon said he would have readily cooperated with the MACC had they rung him up to go and give his statement instead of suddenly stopping him on the road.

In a press conference outside the MACC office, PBK’s Batu Kawah candidate Chai Kueh Khun claimed that Voon’s sudden questioning by the MACC was an act of intimidation to hinder the work of the party.

He said the PBK president was asked to give evidence on a particular case although the MACC did not provide more details.

“Today, you have seen how they treat PBK. It’s to intimidate us.

“We’ve done nothing wrong. Everything we do is done according to the law and for the people of Sarawak.”

FMT has reached out to the MACC for comment.

Source: Free Malaysia Today

Sabah police commissioner Idris Abdullah said the Philippines would soon be holding its presidential election and all sorts of ‘untrue’ stories were bound to surface during this period. (Facebook pic)

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah police chief Idris Abdullah has rubbished a news report claiming that an armed militia from the Philippines was hatching plans to invade the state.

He said security forces were trying to verify the claim.

“So far, we don’t have any information on that (secret meetings to send armed groups to Sabah),” he told FMT.

“Maybe you can ask (the news publication) where they got the information from. I also want to know … but it’s not true.

“These kinds of rumours are not good as they can cause panic among the people.”

He said it came at a time when the state was trying to open up its economic and tourism sectors after they were badly affected by the pandemic.

Idris said the Philippines would soon hold its presidential election and all sorts of “untrue” stories were bound to surface during this period.

“From a safety standpoint, although this information looks invalid, we are not taking anything for granted,” he said.

The South China Morning Post, quoting a senior regional security source reported earlier today that there was a secret meeting between 19 mayors of the Sulu archipelago to discuss plans to invade Sabah.

This meeting, said to have taken place on Dec 1 and conducted by “a locally elected official of Sulu province”, supposedly involved talks over recruiting up to 600 men in order to establish a “Royal Sulu Army”.

Moyog assemblyman Darell Leiking, who is also the Warisan deputy president, brought up the news report in the state assembly sitting today.

He asked chief minister Hajiji Noor if the state government was investigating the matter.

Hajiji said he had yet to receive any information on the matter.

In 2013, more than 200 armed militants from Sulu set out from Jolo in the southern Philippines and landed on Sabah’s east coast Lahad Datu district to reclaim the land which they claimed still belonged to the Sulu.

The conflict lasted two months and there were casualties on both sides.

The Filipino claim to Sabah has been a long-standing issue and scores of state politicians have often urged Putrajaya to intervene and get Manila to drop its claim once and for all.

Former deputy home minister Azis Jamman had highlighted the issue when debating on the 12th Malaysia Plan in Parliament in October,

The Sepanggar MP said the federal government should push the Philippines to drop its claim over Sabah.

He said it was disappointing that the dispute remained unresolved 58 years after the formation of Malaysia.

Source: Free Malaysia Today

Philippines’ defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana has denied a news report of an alleged plan by militia based in the southern Philippines to invade Sabah. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Manila has denied a report of an alleged plan to invade Sabah by militia from the southern Philippines, with its defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana labelling it as “fake news”.

Meanwhile, Jerrica Angela Manongdo, a spokesperson for the Philippine military in Sulu,  said the media report had “no basis”, Arab News reported.

Manongdo also said while local officials in Sulu had indeed held a meeting earlier this month, it revolved around strengthening the archipelago’s maritime borders and disaster response.

“Local chief executives are in charge of recruitment of fishermen or seafarer volunteers to conduct maritime patrols in collaboration with the military in Sulu to help improve border control against terrorists and any other lawless elements,” she was quoted by the Riyadh-based daily as saying.

Manongdo went on to say that they didn’t know the motive behind such reports.

The South China Morning Post recently reported that there was a secret meeting among 19 mayors of the Sulu archipelago to discuss plans to invade Sabah.

Quoting a senior regional security source, the meeting is said to have taken place on Dec 1 and conducted by “a locally elected official of Sulu province”.

It supposedly involved talks about recruiting up to 600 men in order to establish a “Royal Sulu Army”.

Sabah police chief Idris Abdullah rubbished the report, adding that as the Philippines was preparing to hold its presidential election, all sorts of “untrue” stories were bound to surface during this period.

In 2013, more than 200 armed militants from Sulu set out from Jolo in the southern Philippines and landed on Sabah’s east coast Lahad Datu district to reclaim the land which they claimed still belonged to the Sulu.

The conflict lasted two months and there were casualties on both sides.

Source: Free Malaysia Today