Support GPS-led govt for good of all Sarawakians — rep

JULAU: The people are urged to give their full support to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led Sarawak government to safeguard their welfare and interest.

Meluan assemblyman Rolland Duat said the government led by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg was fully committed to ensuring the autonomous rights of Sarawak, which had been eroded, were returned accordingly.

“This will give Sarawak the rights over its rich resources needed to implement development programmes for the benefit of all Sarawakians,” he said at the 'mangkung tiang' (opening) ceremony of a longhouse ( Rumah Mary Jugu Mawang) in Ijit near here yesterday.

GPS, which comprises Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), is a purely Sarawak-based party that understands the needs of Sarawakians.

“We were not treated well under the then Barisan Nasional (BN) government, which was dominated by Peninsula-based parties. Hence, the decision to form GPS, which Sarawakians ought to all support.

“The GPS government has proven it is capable of generating its own sources of income to finance development projects for the benefit of the people.

“For instance, every GPS elected representative is allocated millions to deliver projects under minor rural project (MRP) and Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) in their respective constituency,” he added.

Immediate reform needed to solve statelessness — Sapa

KUCHING: Sarawak Association for People's Aspirations (Sapa) is urging the federal government to prioritise the issue of stateless natives in Sarawak as a key part of their reform agenda for the next stage of their term in office.

Newly appointed Sapa publicity and information chief, Peter John Jaban, said this issue has been neglected for many years under their predecessors and the sincerity of Pakatan Harapan (PH) towards raising quality of life for thousands of rural Sarawakian voters in the run-up to the next state election will depend on their response to key problems like statelessness.

He said the group is calling for an end to the current case-by-case basis for decision making.

Any real impact, he added, will only be made through widespread policy and systemic changes to the procedures of National Registration Department (JPN), especially in rural Sarawak.

This might even require constitutional change to bring Malaysia in line with international conventions and, therefore, genuine cooperation between parties will be needed to effect any real change in favour of the Malaysian public, he said.

“People have been waiting for change for many decades now and are becoming extremely disillusioned with the lack of action on any number of issues since the last election.

"We are nearly one year into our new government and precious little action appears to have been taken in any direction. The issue of statelessness, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, has been at the forefront of the media and civil society for a long time and is long overdue.

"Failure to act now only serves to compound the ineptitude of the previous administration in recognising the rights of the legitimate Sarawakians who have been denied identity cards by a system that does not understand the specific cultural, economic and environmental conditions in the state. If the new PH government wants to distinguish itself, then this is a good place to start," said Peter.