Wong urges Uggah to include time frame, subject matter in motion

AN opposition member of the august House wants Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas to amend his ministerial motion to stipulate a time frame and subject matter to recover Sarawak’s eroded autonomous rights.

Wong King Wei ( DAPPadungan) was apparently not satisfied with the motion tabled in the State Legislative Assembly sitting yesterday as he pointed out the motion carried just “general statement without any commitment”.

He said the motion, though not the same as a motion tabled in May 2014 which sought to increase the oil and gas royalty to Sarawak from five to 20 per cent from Putrajaya, shared a similarity – no time frame.

“It is because no time frame was set therefore we cannot pursue this matter, asking for a result in this august House. Which means it can take 10, 20 or even 100 years.

“And there is no subject matter in this motion. We don’t want resolution after resolution with no action taken. Therefore this motion has to be amended,” he said when debating the motion on Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63) and matters related thereto.

Wong recalled that the Barisan Nasional ( BN) government intended to table a motion on MA63 in November 2016 but the state government took a sudden u-turn.

“And now it comes back, one year later. Even a motion took a year, what more to say negotiation,” he said.

He asserted that it was high time for the state government to put in concrete action rather than sticking to rounds of negotiation with Putrajaya. He suggested that a BN leader to table an amendment bill to Article (1)( 2) of the Federal Constitution in Parliament if the state government is serious about getting back Sarawak’s autonomous rights. Wong said the state government had to restore its status to one of the three regions for “without competent status what’s there to negotiate about?”

He said talking about MA63 alone “is not good enough” because “what Sarawakians want is more than that”.

“This motion is so vague that it talks about negotiation to resolve outstanding issues. What are the outstanding issues? State the subject matter, make it clear what you’re going to do after this motion.

“I’ll support this motion if it stipulates clearly the subject matter and time frame,” he stressed.

Wong said the BN MPs in Sarawak had supported the Territorial Sea Act when it was passed in 2012. He felt that a BN leader from Sarawak ought to table a bill in Parliament to either amend or repeal the Act.

“You cannot do this by word of negotiation. BN should table a bill to amend or repeal the Act to the effect that it will not affect Sarawak. If BN tables the bill, we Pakatan Harapan will support the bill,” he added.