SAPP Biennial Delegates Conference 2012

KOTA KINABALU, June 4, 2012: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) held its Biennial Delegates Convention on June 3, 2012 at the Star City Convention Hall attended by about 1,600 delegates and observers.

Among the invited guests from opposition parties who attended the event were PKR Deputy President Mohamed Azmin Ali, Sabah PKR Chief Thamrin Jaini,Sabah PKR Secretary Dr Roland Chia, DAP Sabah Publicity Officer Chan Foong Hing and Edward Linggu of Star.

Excerpts of presidential speech by SAPP President as follows...

"This biennial delegates conference is the last before the next general elections. I am confident that by the time of the next delegates conference, SAPP will be in government in Sabah, and if possible, be part of the federal government.

As we know, all national movements for change have an iconic image of its leader. For example, in Asean alone, Aung San Suu Kyi and Corazon Aquino were leaders of change who were part of the old order but who led the change to a new order in their nations. In today's Malaysia, that leader for change is Anwar Ibrahim.

There are many ordinary people, civil society and organisations who do not belong to any political party. These people also should be considered as part of the combined opposition forces that come together to bring about a change in government. The national opposition leader, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, therefore should not be restricted as the leader of only an opposition party or a grouping of parties, but the leader of all the forces and all people opposed to the current ruling regime.

SAPP left the ruling governing coalition on 17 September 2008; our leaders at all levels honourably sacrificed their government posts, and joined the opposition to fight for Sabah. On that September 17, our Supreme Council had approved the eight-point Peoples' Declaration for Change; on that proud day, SAPP unilaterally declared our autonomy as a political party; on that day, SAPP dared to make a move out of the government and fight valiantly for the autonomy of Sabah in Malaysia.

We did not waver, we did not ask for seats or ask for assurances of victory, we did not ask for more time or for this and that. We said yes! we will fight and so we fought. Our two MPs declared "no confidence on the Prime Minister", and they went ahead. We said we would leave ruling government, and yes, we did the right thing because we know we are on the right side of history. This is the integrity and credibility of SAPP. And today, as we gather, our members' spirits are high and our machinery is ready for war.

Our mission is to establish a trustworthy government and a progressive, just and harmonious society. Guided by our 7-value party culture, our fight for change is the 8-point Peoples' Declaration. And today, our party launches our manifesto for the coming general elections. This manifesto is in addition to our Land Reforms and the Economic Plan.

We are grateful to the Manifesto Committee for completing the Manifesto. Together with the Land Reforms and the Economic Plan, the manifesto forms that basis of a new State government for Sabah. We record our thanks to Datuk Hj. Mohammad Noor Bin Mohammad Mansoor, as Chairman of the Manifesto Committee and his committee members, for their hard work in putting together the manifesto.

In understanding our Sabah situation today, it is always helpful to have a historical perspective. As such, I point out three defining events that decisively changed the course of Sabah's history. First, is the Malaysia Agreement of 9 July 1963 that transferred national sovereignty from London to Kuala Lumpur on September 16, 1963. Then, the mysterious air crash of June 6, 1976 in which our top leaders perished, followed by the signing of the oil agreement in the same month, in return for 5% royalties. The third defining event is the entry of UMNO into Sabah in 1991, which injected Malayan federal politics directly in Sabah's political system.

The effects of all these three events can only be corrected by first, defeating UMNO-BN in the coming general elections. The new order in Malaysia will, as promised, return 20% of the oil to Sabah. And a SAPP Sabah autonomous State Government will pursue a comprehensive review of the State-Federal relationship such that the letter, spirit and intent of the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 will be respected, whereby an autonomous Sabah will enjoy the fruits and benefits of Malaysia as promised in 1963. To protect the autonomy of Sabah and the identity of Sabahans, a SAPP Sabah State Government will also issue Sabah ICs to qualified Malaysians in Sabah.

There are two court cases involving the party and our members concerning public interests in Sabah. First, is the defamation case concerning the June 6, 1976 air crash, which is now pending appeal.

On the Borneonisation case of Bernard Fung Fong Chen and Mohd Nazib bin Maidan Dally vs The Government of Malaysia and the Government of the State Sabah, our members have won round one in the High Court which has ruled that Sabahans have constitutional rights to ensure that the assurances given to Sabah and Sarawak contained in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 are adhered to. We thank our lawyers, Ken Yong Chie Man and Peter Marajin and advisors and supporters, for their selfless service to Sabah and to the spirit of Malaysia.

In fact, Borneonisation is point no. 8 in the Twenty Points memorandum. This point alone, testifies that the twenty Points is still alive, relevant and valid. Other points like Immigration, Tariffs and Finance, Special Position of Indigenous Races and Land, Forests, Local Government are similarly relevant.

On behalf of the Supreme Council, I thank our members in Sabah, Labuan and Kuala Lumpur for your support and commitment to the Party. Your support, commitment and unity is all the more important in the coming months leading to the general elections which is not far away.

We have basically identified the constituencies that we plan to contest. As we will uphold the principle of autonomy for Sabah, SAPP will contest a majority of the state seats in the Sabah. We will, however, only contest a smaller number of parliamentary seats; our role being to assist other opposition parties to a effect change of federal government. In the seats that SAPP does not contest, we will support other opposition parties that have the best chances of defeating the BN candidate. I stand before you today fairly confident that we can achieve a win-win formula with other opposition parties in fighting the BN in the coming general elections.

Before I conclude, I wish to thank our ex-GKB chief Stephen Gaimin, a GKB ever since age 20, who has made way for the new GKB chief Cik Noor Fadzila Hamzah, who has been a GKB ever since the age of 15. The party has also started a new wing, called the Mudanita, to cater for young women, under Philicica Tong, who herself was a GKB at age 16.

Over the last 15 years, SAPP has trained 5,000 graduan kem belia (GKB) many of whom are now active members. Some of them are second generation members, some of whom are now parents with third generation members on the way. A few GKBs have become Supreme Councillors. These young members and many more new young people joining the party form the future life line of the party. These young people give us hope that our struggle will not be in vain. With those words of confidence for the future, I hereby officiate this delegates conference."

More... Speeches by: [Women Chief][Youth Leader][GKB Chief][Mudanita Chief]