KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Labuan division has passed a motion to reinstate the appointment of an assemblyman from the island, located off the coast of Sabah.
PBS Labuan youth member Daryl Danny urged the top PBS leadership to voice this request to the Sabah government for its consideration.
"There was once an appointed assemblyman from the party in the past, even though Labuan was under the administration of the federal territory at that time," he said.
"We are proposing this motion considering that Labuan, although administratively under the federal territory, has close cultural, socio-economic, and family ties with Sabah. A significant portion of Labuan's population either originates from Sabah or is of Sabahan descent," Danny added.
He also noted that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had recently stated that the development of Labuan needs to be supported by the Sabah government.
"Labuan had an appointed assemblyman from PBS appointed by the then PBS-led state government in the past. Therefore, I request that this assemblyman appointment be reinstated," he said.
Danny read out this motion at the PBS Labuan division annual general meeting on Saturday (July 13).
The other motion, read by Melvin Bonaventure for the youth wing, called for the proposed Labuan-Menumbok bridge project to be implemented as soon as possible.
Bonaventure said the bridge would enhance the physical connection between the two areas, which are separated from mainland Sabah by a narrow stretch of water, and bring economic, social, and welfare benefits.
"Therefore, the construction of the bridge from Labuan to Menumbok is a prudent step and should receive full support from all parties for the benefit of the people and national development," he added.
PBS vice president Datuk Johnny Mositun, who officiated the AGM, supported the division’s stand on the implementation of the long-debated Labuan-Menumbok bridge.
Mositun described the project as fully justified, saying it is much-needed infrastructure to connect the island to Sabah mainland and should rightly be the government's obligation to provide.
He added that the proposed bridge should not be viewed solely from an economic perspective but also for the social benefits it could bring to the people on both Labuan and mainland Sabah.
"With the exorbitant cost of airfares between Labuan and Kota Kinabalu and vehicle-passenger ferry services not operating round the clock, people from opposite sides of the channel are literally cut off from each other at least half the time.
"This is pitiful, especially when there are emergencies, including medical cases where patients need to be transferred from the Labuan hospital to Kota Kinabalu, which has better medical facilities and professionals.
"Depriving the people of such basic needs is unfair and can even be considered an injustice," said Mositun, who was also the former Deputy State Speaker, supporting PBS Labuan division chief Datuk Peter Mak's call for the bridge’s construction.
Mak said that citing financial constraints as a reason for the bridge not taking off is not the best argument, as people believe that Labuan generates sufficient revenues for the federal coffers to support the project.
PBS Labuan also calls for autonomy, including financial, to be given to the island to allow local stakeholders to participate meaningfully in the island’s development and seek pragmatic methods to realise the bridge.
