Facebook posting on CM ‘grossly wrong’
KUCHING: Sarawak leaders have condemned a Facebook posting defaming Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem over his vocally-charged pursuance of state rights.
Sarawak Barisan Nasional Backbenchers’ Club chairman Abdullah Saidol said Adenan’s blunt views were being manipulated to create political anxiety between the state and the federal governments.
He said Adenan’s candid and tough statements were made in good faith and were in the interest of the state and its people.
“For all intents and purposes, the state government led by Adenan’s Team is all for a stronger and better nation as Malaysians,” said Abdullah, who is Semop assemblyman.
He said political opportunists were trying to create animosity for political mileage.
Assistant State Minister for Early Childhood Education and Family Development Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said Adenan had often said that Sarawak would continue to be the crucial part of the nation.
“The social media posting is untrue and malicious with an intent to smear the chief minister’s image.
“Fighting for autonomy and our rights means we want Sarawak to be empowered more by the Federal Government to develop our own state.
“We want to be in charge of our development agenda.
“That is what our chief minister is fighting for. Secession was never an option,” she told the New Straits Times yesterday.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) yesterday said the posting, which suggested that Adenan was blaming the federal authorities and Umno for the nation’s ills, was “grossly wrong”.
“The CMO categorically denies that the chief minister has made any public statement to this effect,” said the statement from the CMO.
“The chief minister has said time and again that Sarawak will never secede from Malaysia but that doesn’t mean the state cannot fight for its rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution, Malaysia Agreement 1963, Malaysia Act, Inter-Government Committee Reports and Recommendations and the Cobbold Commission Report.”
Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman has lodged a police report on the Facebook posting at the Gita police station here at 9pm last night.