KOTA KINABALU: What Sabahans want to know from Parti Warisan president cum caretaker Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal is why he was silent when the Philippines again laid claim to Sabah recently, not what he had done to stop the demand, says Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS).
Its president Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said Shafie could claim to have taken actions over the sensitive matter all he wants but the question at the back of every Sabahan’s mind is why he, as Chief Minister, did not immediately respond to the latest demand made by the Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr in his tweet recently.
Instead, Anifah, who served as Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, said Shafie left it to former Law Minister Datuk VK Liew to respond to the demand.
“I wasn’t interested to know that you and your government did on this issue. What I said was why remained silent. What were you afraid of? As the highest authority in Sabah you should have responded because Sabahans were getting anxious and angry by Locsin’s statement. You owe the people of Sabah an explanation for your silence,” he said in response to Shafie’s statement accusing him for not doing his job as Foreign Affairs Minister.
Anifah, in a report recently, questioned Shafie’s silence over Locsin’s tweet claiming that ‘Sabah is not in Malaysia if you want anything to do with the Philippines.’
He said the Semporna MP’s silence had raised questions whether or not he was worthy to lead Sabah.
“Please don’t start telling us that you did this and that over the issue. What people want to know why were you silent at the time. Why it had to be VK Liew to be the one responding?” asked Anifah.
He reitereated that as Foreign Minister, he had done everything to stop all kinds of demands and threats including the Philippine’s claim on Sabah.
“As Foreign Minister, I had numerous meetings with my counterpart and they tried in numerous occassions to bring up this issue. I had also reminded my counterpart in the Philippine government that Malaysia had never recognised their claim and therefore there was nothing to be resolved.
“Let’s never forget that Malaysia has never acknowledged such claim and therefore, as far as we’re concerned, it has no merit to be entertained right from the start,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said as Foreign Minister, he did what he was necessary to address the issue whenever it surfaced but without ever losing sight of the fact that Malaysia had never acknowledged the claim.
He said any Tom, Dick or Harry in the Philippines including their top government officials could make statement over their country’s claim on Sabah but none of it should be taken as the Philippine Government’s official stance.
In 2018, Anifah reportedly said that talks on Philippines’ claim on Sabah were nothing more than personal political agenda by certain quarters to gain support from the people of the country.
He had said based on the clarification he received from Philippine’s Foreign Affairs secretary, Alan Peter Cayetano, the matter was not the government’s official stance.
Three years earlier, Anifah was also in the spotlight over the issue when he stressed that Malaysia refused to acknowledge any claim the Philippines had for Sabah, calling such claim as irrelevant.
It was Anifah’s immediate response when asked about Philippines’ media reports saying Manila had offered to “downgrade” its claim on Sabah.
“Well, they can claim all they want. But the main concern of our people is how our leaders would respond. Shafie failed miserably on this task because he remained silent. Now he’s accusing me instead of having not done my job. The many reports speak of themselves what I did,” he said.
He added that Malaysians and Sabahans were in fact puzzled as to why Shafie had in parliament in 2016 called for the matter regarding the claim to be settled.
“What’s there to settle when in the first place our country Malaysia has never acknowledged there was ever such a claim by the Philippines? Did Shafie himself acknoweldge there was such a claim and therefore call for it to be settled? All this is recorded in the Hansard,” argued Anifah.
He also slammed Shafie for telling reporters that the issue about the claim was not his priority as he was busy facing an election.
“If the sovereignty of Sabah is not even your priority, and any action to demand your stand as Chief Minister is deemed as a propaganda, then you’re unfit to be a Chief Minister. Any Chief Minister in their right mind would be among the first to respond to a claim like that,” he said.
Anifah further rubbished Shafie’s claim that he did not do his job on matters regarding the claim, saying that he played a leading role when Malaysia brokered the Bangsamoro peace deal in 2016. It was hoped that the peace deal would stimulate economic growth in the troubled Mindanao and with that it would discourage the people there from coming to Sabah while at the same time encourage the IMM13 holders in the state to return to their country of origin.-pr/BNN
