PENAMPANG: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said he is still angry with the British colonial administration for rushing the formation of Malaysia, leaving Sabah and Sarawak still fighting over unfulfilled promises under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“We were thrown by the British to Malaya. That is why I am angry with the British. I wanted to take action against the British,” he said, without elaborating.
Malaysia was formed through the merger of Malaya, British North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore. Singapore was expelled from the federation in 1965, two years after its formation.
On Sabah’s 40 per cent revenue entitlement, Pairin said the amount that should be returned to the State annually had yet to be fully paid.
“The 40 per cent tax revenue collected that must be returned to Sabah every financial year, they have not paid. Until now, they say they will pay but have not. They play with instalments.
“It’s like the cat playing with a mouse. Not dead yet but not alive either. It is wrong constitutionally. We must claim it. It is our right,” he said after launching his autobiography, recently.
He did not say whether the issue of the 40 per cent revenue entitlement had been raised by his government during his tenure as Chief Minister from 1985 to 1994.
Asked whether there was anything he wished he had done differently as Chief Minister, Pairin said there is no point talking about it.
“If I had a chance, I wish our people would strengthen their unity so that the government will continue,” he said.
He also urged Sabah leaders to work together through a parliamentary caucus to defend the State’s interests, rather than support parties from Peninsular Malaysia whose priorities, he said, differed from Sabah’s.
“All leaders from here must work together to support Sabah’s interests. They must form a committee or what we call a parliamentary caucus.
“Our leaders and our people cannot support parties from Malaya because their agendas are different,” Pairin said.
“We must be like Sarawak. We have to defend our future. Sabah leaders must stand together. If not, we will lose out.”Pairin also recalled how Sabah and Sarawak were placed on the same footing as the states in Peninsular Malaysia in 1976, during the Berjaya administration, despite being equal partners in the formation of Malaysia.
The constitutional position was subsequently amended in 2023.
“Once we were at the same level. They lowered us to the states in the Peninsula. Isn’t that cheating?” he asked.
He also criticised the two-year rotation of the Chief Minister’s post introduced by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which he said rewarded those willing to abandon Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) in 1994.
“Where does it say (in the Constitution) two years, two years, two years? That is crazy. But nobody dared to oppose because all were afraid of the ISA,” he said, referring to the Internal Security Act.
Pairin said he reported for work at the Attorney-General’s Chambers on Jan 11, 1971, and served as a prosecutor for three years.
“I was a prosecutor for three years, 1971, 1972 and 1973. In 1972, Tun Mustapha put people in prison. All the priests were arrested,” he said.
He said this was the reason he left government service and joined a law firm in 1974 to defend those affected.
“At that time, political people were being arrested, and soon I was also following,” he said.
