Chong: State DAP will support motion to restore Sarawak’s status

KUCHING: DAP Sarawak will support the proposed motion in the State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) to restore Sarawak’s status as one of the three regions in Malaysia instead of the present one of 13 states.

Its chairman and Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen said this proposal, in fact, first came from DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng during the state election in May.

“We are glad that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem has taken the cue from DAP and tried to restore Sarawak’s status as one of three regions in Malaysia,” he said in a press statement received here yesterday.

However, Chong said what Adenan was now proposing to do was only ‘half the job’.

“There is no question that the motion will be passed in the DUN unanimously. The question is: What’s next? Will his PBB and SUPP ministers put up a similar motion in Parliament?”

“We have a motion on demanding the 20 per cent oil and gas royalties passed in the DUN in May 2014. Two years after the passing of the motion, it is now shelved for good by both the federal and Sarawak governments. Will this proposal on the amendment of the Federal Constitution to restore Sarawak’s status suffer the same fate?”

More importantly, Chong, who is also Bandar Kuching MP, said such a motion ought to be tabled in Parliament.

“Sarawak has six ministers in the federal cabinet.

“Anyone of them can table such a motion in Parliament and it will take priority over all the other private members’ motions or bills.”

Therefore, he said what Adenan needed to do was simply to instruct one of the six federal ministers to table such a motion in Parliament and he could assure Adenan that all the 38 DAP MPs would support the motion to restore Sarawak’s position.

“Without having such a motion being tabled in Parliament, but merely having it tabled in the DUN,it is yet another of Adenan’s play- acting to tease Sarawakians’ desire for more equal treatment in the Federation of Malaysia.”

Chong said since Adenan became chief minister, such play-acting never stopped, yet Sarawak continued to be neglected and Sarawakians continued to suffer under the yoke of the UmnoBN government.

He listed the examples of these playacting: (i) The 20 per cent oil and gas royalties’ motion passed in the DUN which comes to nothing; (ii) Adenan’s repeated calls for ‘what they have, we also want’, yet having no visible effect nor change in the annual federal budget allocation for Sarawak; (iii) Adenan’s repeated comment that ‘ It is foolish to neglect the importance of English’, but our children are still subject to the Umno- dictated education policies where English language continues to be neglected in the mainstream education system; (iv) Adenan’s boast on autonomy for Sarawak, yet only some administrative powers were given with the purse string still being controlled by the federal government.

Chong called upon Adenan to direct his federal ministers from Sarawak BN to also table such a motion to restore Sarawak’s status as one of three partners in the Federation of Malaysia.