‘Better to secure independence through unilateral declaration than referendum’

Voon Lee Shan

KUCHING, Sept 24: PBK president Voon Lee Shan describes the effort to claim Sarawak’s independence through an Independence Referendum (IR) as a lottery ticket because the result is uncertain.

“That is whether your lottery ticket strikes or not to win the prize money. If the voters agree to continue to be federated with Malaya, then Sarawak cannot get itself out of the federation,” he pointed out in a statement today.

He added that blockchain technology set up for IR is costly and time consuming, and most of the money would be spent in campaigns to get the right message to the people into giving their votes.

On top of that, the federal government might not even allow the passing of a Referendum Act in Parliament to allow the IR to be held.

“Although IR is democratic and represents the voice of the people but a popular decision in a democratic process may not always produce a right decision,” the Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) leader asserted.

Despite an IR being supported by pro-independence groups such as Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) and Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S), PBK remains in its stand to fight for Sarawak’s independence through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI).

Voon stated that UDI is recognised legally under international law and that Singapore successfully exited Malaysia in 1965 using the same method.

“UDI is a very much faster mode of gaining independence than IR as there is no need to get approval from the citizens.

“There is great certainty in achieving independence because the UDI could be decided by either the Cabinet or Legislature,” he added. — DayakDaily