PH’s ‘New Deal Agreement’ a bad deal – Pol sec
KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan ( PH) Sarawak’s offer of a ‘ New Deal Agreement’ to state Barisan Nasional ( BN) has been described by SUPP Youth chief Michael Tiang as a bad deal.
“On one hand, PH pretends to honour Sarawak as a founding partner to the formation of Malaysia by promising to revert our position to one of the three founding partners if they form the federal government. But their insincerity is immediately exposed in their mentions of Sarawak’s rights to oil and gas in the New Deal Agreement.
“They still perceive Petros as a contractor company, not a Sarawakian sovereign company that has both ownership and regulatory powers over oil and gas within Sarawak territory. The PH even continues to suggest a mere 20 per cent oil royalty for Sarawak and also to form another oil company to share the oil and gas regulatory powers together with Petronas which is a total reverse to Sarawak government’s agenda to exercise our 100 per cent rights over our oil and gas within our territory.
“Therefore, just on this point, PH has already failed to respect and acknowledge Sarawak’s territorial integrity, let alone to honour whatever is promised in the New Deal Agreement,” he said yesterday.
Tiang, who is also a political secretary to the chief minister, nonetheless said the proposal of New Deal Agreement by PH to Sarawak BN has once again proven the importance to build a stronger Sarawak.
He said that SUPP general election campaign theme ‘Stronger Sarawak’ emphasises that Sarawak must become stronger and financially independent.
He said a stronger Sarawak is needed to further reinforce its special constitutional position and status as one of the four founding partners to the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
He said Sarawak has since gained many of its rights provided under MA63 through devolution of powers.
He added Sarawak further cemented its status as ‘ the fi xed deposit state’ to Putrajaya after winning 72 out of the 82 seats in the 2016 state election.
“Therefore, I won’t be surprised that even the opposition alliance has to acknowledge the fact that Sarawak’s autonomous position in Malaysia is not to be taken lightly.
“This is new, as in the past this was never offered or considered by Barisan Alternatif or Pakatan Rakyat. Moreover, in the recent unveiled BN manifesto by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, it was also the first time the BN reserves a full chapter of its manifesto to empower and prosper Sarawak by giving back its rights and allocation of funds to close the development gap between Sarawak and Peninsula.
“This shows that when you’re strong and have autonomous powers, you’ll be approached by all parties with great respect and deals. Therefore it’s very important for all Sarawakians to support Sarawak BN to win in all 31 parliamentary seats in GE14,” said Tiang.