JEFFREY Kitingan’s call to replace the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) with a new deal will never succeed as he had partnered with Umno, said Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal today.

Shafie said Jeffrey kept raising the issue of state rights but had never actually done anything about it, and now that he is affiliated to Umno, it is even more impossible for him to act.

“There is nothing new in Jeffrey’s call. What did Umno do on the Malaysia Agreement?  

“How sure is he (Jeffrey) that he can realise MA63 when he has now ganged up with a party that had run the country over the last 60 years,” he told reporters in Kota Kinabalu today, after Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu paid him a courtesy visit.

In a Malaysia Day statement last night, Jeffrey floated the idea of renewing MA63 with a new deal which will raise the statuses of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia.

He dubbed the new agreement the “Malaysian Union Agreement 2020”.

Jeffrey, who leads Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Solidariti), is a member of the newly formed opposition coalition, Gabungan Bersatu Sabah, which also includes Parti Bersatu Sabah and Sabah Umno as partners.

Sabah Umno was the dominant party in the now defunct Sabah Barisan Nasional. It had then played down, belittled and attacked Jeffrey during its rule in Sabah.

Umno’s power began to fade following the 13th general election due to the Chinese political tsunami, and the then ruling party began to pick up the issue of Sabah’s state rights.

Former prime minister cum former Umno president Najib Razak also dangled Sabah rights and the MA63 issue in a bid retain power during the 14th general election.

Despite the animosity, Jeffrey, who was an previously an opposition leader in Sabah, decided to throw his weight behind Umno when Sabah ended up with a hung assembly in GE14.

Shafie said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is at least making progress on the issues since taking power in May 9.

He said he does not expect Putrajaya to meet all demands of state rights overnight, and the new federal government is in constant discussion with the state government on the issue.

“I am sure the issue in realising state rights are all in the minds of PH leaders, and given time, not 100% (will be achieved) in the short term, but most importantly they will eventually return our rights.

“This is better than going about making noises about our lost rights or stolen rights like Jeffrey,” he said.

Warisan supreme council member and political secretary to federal law minister Liew Vui Keong had described Jeffrey’s statement as secession talk or trying to break up Malaysia, which is tantamount to treason. – September 16, 2018.