I regret that the Cabinet has neither taken Parliament seriously nor the long-standing problems and grievances of the people of Sabah.
The Prime Minister’s Department has five Ministers apart from the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister as well as five deputy ministers, but not a single one of them rose in Parliament to answer issues about Sabah development neglect, whether during the winding-up of the debate on the Royal Address or during the committee stage debate on the Prime Minister’s Department on the 2009 supplementary estimates.
Just laid on the table is the 2009 annual report of Suhakam. A staple criticism of MPs and the civil society is the failure of Parliament to have any specific debate on the Suhakam annual reports in the past nine years.
I want to ask Barisan Nasional MPs whether they take the Suhakam annual reports seriously, as most BN MPs would not even open the Suhakam annual reports to read them.
For instance, in the latest Suhakam report on its activities in Sabah, various long-standing problems of Sabahans were referred to. As example, on “Land Matters”, Suhakam dealt with land complaints and made recommendations, and I quote:
What is the position of the Federal and Sabah state governments to these recommendations by Suhakam.
Let me warn the Barisan Nasional government that they will lose Sabah as a “fixed deposit” if the basic rights and interests of Sabahans continue to be marginalized and discriminated decade after decade.
[Speech (4) on the first 2010 supplementary estimates in Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday 13th April 2010]