Documents from London mission a ‘red herring’, claims Chong

KUCHING: The state government’s reluctance to disclose the documents from its London mission goes to show that the trip – although done in the name of ‘enhancing Sarawak’s position to negotiate for more autonomy – is a total waste of taxpayers’ money, claims DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen.

According to him, all the talk about using the historical documents to help Sarawak reclaim its rights is just ‘beating around the bush… a red herring’ by the Sarawak Barisan Nasional ( BN) government to cover up its failure to obtain more autonomy for the state.

“Not only has Sarawak not made any headway in the demand for more autonomy, but its rights are still continuously eroded by the federal government amidst all the ‘autonomy’ talks,” he told reporters at a press conference in DAP headquarters here yesterday.

Chong, who is Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, said in July this year, the Parliament passed two Bills – ‘ The Access to Biological Resources and Benefits Sharing Bill, 2017’ and ‘Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill 2017’ – which effectively took away Sarawak’s exclusive power over its forest biological resources and port management, respectively. He also noted that all BN Sarawak MPs and Senators supported the two Bills.

Chong also claimed that Sarawak BN seemed to have forgotten what the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem had stressed in State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) last year about Sarawak‘s territorial rights over its waters, where the former chief minister had confidently expressed that the Territorial Sea Act 2012 was ‘unconstitutional and thus, null and void’.

“However, since the passing of Adenan early this year, the BN Sarawak government has continued to allow such an ‘unconstitutional law’ to take its effect, and allowed the federal government unfettered rights to exploit our offshore oil and marine resources. If Sarawak BN could not even defend the rights expressly provided under the Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement, then all the talk about the documents prior to the Malaysia Agreement would amount to nothing,” he said.

In his words, Chong said the search for the historical document is a typical ‘distraction tactic’ employed by Sarawak BN on the issue of ‘autonomy’, when it knows full well that its counterpart in Putrajaya would not agree to the devolution of power.

“On the other hand, the Pakatan Harapan has promised fiscal decentralisation – 50 per cent of all taxes collected in Sarawak and 20 per cent of oil and gas royalties – to the state government, among other things,” he said.