Sarawak only worth ‘three per cent attention’ in DAP, says CM pol-sec
KUCHING: The newly-minted Democratic Action Party ( DAP) central executive committee (CEC) reflects a fact that Sarawak carries only a three-per-cent worth of significance in the party.
Pointing this out yesterday was political secretary to the chief minister Michael Tiang, who said state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen is the only Sarawakian in the CEC line-up.
“DAP CEC name list released after its EGM (extraordinary general meeting) last Sunday, reveals that DAP is, de facto, a Malayan ( peninsula- based) political party. Among the 30 elected and co-opted CEC members, Chong Chieng Jen who is from Sarawak is the only member in the CEC, and that constitutes only three per cent of the central power of the party.
“This can be viewed as a fact that Sarawak carries only three per cent worth of significance in the DAP,” he said in a statement issued at the State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) media centre yesterday.
Tiang, who is also Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) central working committee (CWC) member, said the DAP election results also proved that ‘Sarawak is never DAP’s focus and political concerns’.
He wondered how DAP Sarawak leaders would be going to fulfil their promises to Sarawakians should DAP ever take over Putrajaya, when they are not much represented in the party’s CEC.
Tiang was referring to DAP’s earlier propagation of the ‘Sarawak Dreams’, as well as the promise to give back to Sarawak the 50 per cent tax revenues collected from the state if the party took over as the ruling government.
“How can they do that if Sarawak DAP leaders cannot even obtain position in the party central (CEC)?” Tiang said DAP received overwhelming support from voters in urban areas and had captured most of those seats in the 2011 state and 2013 parliamentary elections.
“The fact that DAP rose from zero to 12 assemblymen in 2011 and five MPs in 2013, there was great expectation from the voters who wanted to see DAP bringing forth change to Sarawak.
“Unfortunately, the DAP CEC election results (on Sunday) show that DAP is clinging onto their old path – Malaya first, Sarawak is accessorial,” he pointed out.
Tiang added that the reward for urban voters in Sarawak for supporting DAP for over a decade was a ‘ mere three per cent of attention’.
“On the contrary, all central executive members from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB), SUPP, Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP) are 100 per cent Sarawakians,” stressed Tiang.