KUCHING, Jan 3: Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) is using Sarawak’s rights as political propaganda to mislead Sarawakians into giving the former support in the upcoming polls, charged an opposition leader.
Dr Kelvin Yii, special assistant to Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, said BN and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) are recycling the same political propaganda used during the last State Elections in 2016, which is centred on the state’s rights and autonomy.
“They mislead people into believing that there is a need to support them in the upcoming General Elections for better representation so that Sarawak can get back it rights and autonomy from the federal government,” Yii said in a statement today.
He was referring to SUPP president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian’s statement, who was quoted as saying, “Whether Sarawak can get back its autonomy depends very much on the results of GE14 (14th General Elections) and that poor results for BN may also affect the negotiation between Sarawak and the federal government on Sarawak’s autonomy.”
Yii said that this shows the “beggars mentality” SUPP and BN Sarawak has when it comes to Sarawak’s rights as they are subservient and agreeable to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s “blackmail” that the state’s rights will only be returned if Sarawakians support BN.
Yii said that it was the exact propaganda used by SUPP and BN Sarawak during the State Election so that they will have strong representation to demand things from the federal government.
Despite a strong performance for BN in the last state elections and last general elections, Yii pointed out that nothing has been done to get back the state’s autonomy.
Yii said that BN only “adopted” the Sarawak’s rights agenda after the calls from civil society and the opposition.
“If there was no pressure, the BN government in their complacency and strong support, will not have done anything. Thus, can we risk giving back greater power to BN in view of what they have done in past and the little they have done now even with such overwhelming support?”
He said the call for greater support for BN in order to get back the state’s rights is an insult to the people as well as recycled empty propaganda used by SUPP and other parties to continue to mislead Sarawakians.
“This General Elections is an important election. The difference between BN and Pakatan Harapan (PH) is that, for them, they need support to “negotiate”, but for us (PH), we have already “negotiated” and will return our (Sarawak’s) rights and autonomous powers to the state if we win federal power,” said Yii. — DayakDaily
