By Michael Kaung
KOTA KINABALU: The public must be told the truth regarding claims that Sabah territorial waters had been surrendered to Brunei, state opposition leader Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said. He said the detailed presentation on the issue put forward by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has put the onus on the government to answer all the hard questions raised.Kitingan, a PKR vice president who handles its Sabah and Sarawak affairs, said in a statement last night that it was no longer a simple matter of technicalities as parliamentarian Marcus Mojigoh had claimed.
"It has obviously complicated matters now that the cat has already got out of the bag," said Kitingan who is also the Chairman of Common Interest Group, Malaysia.
"The government should open the matter to the public by telling the whole truth. It should also decide now whether it wants to pursue our state rights or not.
"If the government insists on dilly-dallying in its answers and denying that something serious had happened, it will continue to cause more confusion among the people.
"If the former PM (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) is really concerned about our national interests he would realize that it is not just a matter of territorial sovereignty or oil alone.
“There are also nagging questions such as why an important deal involving national interests was rushed through."
Smelling a rat
Kitingan also pointed out that it was abnormal that an international deal which caused Malaysia to lose its own national territory was done in a secretive manner.
"Was a third party involved? Why is the state government not showing any concern over the matter?" he asked.
"These (concerns) are causing a lot of confusion and the people are beginning to smell a rat."
"And what about the state leaders in the federal Cabinet? What is their stand on the matter?
"I really hope that Mojigoh's attitude on the matter doesn't reflect the overall stand of our MPs," he said.
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