<figure id="attachment_3268901" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3268901" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-3268901 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ad3973ef-ewon-benedick-fb-pic-28126.webp" alt="Ewon Benedick" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3268901" class="wp-caption-text">Ewon Benedick said Sabah’s amended Rural Administration Ordinance recognises only the state-level village management body. (Facebook pic)</figcaption></figure>
PETALING JAYA: The federal government has been urged to respect Sabah’s laws by abolishing the federal village development and security committee (JKKKP) system in Sabah.
Sabah deputy chief minister Ewon Benedick said federal intervention had created “doubts and dissatisfaction” among the people despite the state having its own legal framework surrounding village administrative affairs, Sabah radio station Kupi-Kupi FM reported.
Ewon, who is also the Penampang MP, noted that Sabah&#8217;s amended Rural Administration Ordinance clearly recognised only one official village management body &#8211; the state-level JKKKP.
He said the laws enforced by the state government must be respected as part of the national reform agenda.
“The people of Sabah have conveyed a clear message and are demanding that this issue be given due attention,” he was quoted as saying in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, stressing that the matter required clarification and feedback from the federal government.
Ewon said close relationship between the federal and state government was crucial, and must be carried out while respecting Sabah&#8217;s position as a partner in the formation of Malaysia, in line with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the mutually agreed terms.
In 2020, former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee said that local authorities and village administration bodies should be under the jurisdiction of the Sabah government.
He said that even at the height of the Umno-led BN federal government and the Sabah PBS opposition government from 1990 to 1994, the then federal government had refrained from interfering in the administration of local authorities and villages in Sabah.

MatchPoint Times

Abolish federal village committee system in Sabah, says Ewon

Sabah deputy chief minister Ewon Benedick says the people are demanding that the issue be given due attention.

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