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Coal plant cancellation among SAPP’s priorities

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) will work hard for Sabah’s autonomy and press for more efforts by the Government to insulate the State from the economic tsunami affecting other regions.

Its President Datuk Yong Teck Lee said SAPP would stress on greater use of Sabah’s own oil and natural gas for the benefit of the State.

"This includes the cancellation of the proposed coal-fired power plant in our beloved State. SAPP shall also press for non-racial politics and a fair deal for Malaysians in Sabah," he said in his message in conjunction with the Chinese New Year of the Golden Ox, Friday.

Yong said as the people welcome the Year of the Ox, people in the global village are witnessing a basic shift of power from the West back to Asia.

"The raging crisis in the Western financial system which started last year coincided with the start of the new zodiac cycle with the coming of the (year of the) Mouse.

"This crisis will drag down the economic, cultural and technological domination of Asia by the West, thus ending the five century era of backwardness and humiliation of Asians. It is not a coincidence that the United Nations has called upon Asia to be the locomotive for the recovery of the world economy," he said.

He said although Asians have become more resilient after having overcome the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, there was still cause for concern because the present global economic crisis is the worst in living memory.

"It is expected to cause social turmoil in many countries, including Malaysia. Unemployment, social dislocation and falling living standards will cause both fear and jealousy of other communities, giving a racial dimension to socio-economic problems.

"Businesses and many wage earners’ livelihood will face challenges merely to stay afloat. Therefore, the new year will put to test the true characteristics of the Ox," he said.

Yong said the Ox is known to be able to endure hard work without complaining and that it can toil and labour for the community, hence "such is the resilient and self-less nature of the Ox from which we can draw inspiration".

He said as reported, hundreds of thousands of Malaysians would return home in the new year, having lost their jobs overseas and they include thousands of Sabahans, adding to the numbers of unemployed youths in Sabah numbering to thousands.

However, the returning Sabahans are also an asset to the Sabah economy because of their experience and exposure after tasting the harsh realities of life away from the comforts of home.

"They have faced hardships in societies which are more competitive than Sabah," said Yong.

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