By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Dec 3: Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian has come to the conclusion that Sarawak’s recent progress can be attributed to the absence of 3R (race, religion and royalty) issues and the lack of representation of Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the Sarawak government.
The conclusion, he said, was drawn following many in Malaysia, expressing admiration and praises for Sarawak for its unity and development.
“Lately everyone in Malaysia admires and are singing praise of Sarawak. I did asked why all these admirations in this August house in (the) May (session)? Indeed I still come to the same conclusion because Sarawak is not divided and polarised by the 3R—race, religion and royalty as in West Malaysia, and more convinced than ever (that it) is definitely because we don’t have DAP Sarawak in the Sarawak Government, otherwise we will also just like the rest of West Malaysia—divisive and politicking,” said Dr Sim when delivering ministerial winding up speech at the Sarawak Legislature at Sarawak Legislative Complex here today.
At the same time, he expressed hope that Sarawak would emulate Sabah and called on Sarawakians not to vote for DAP Sarawak come the next Sarawak Election, expected to be held in 2026.
“Thanks Sabah for following Sarawak footstep. We are finally not alone in Borneo. Come 2026, Sarawak will need to follow Sabah 2025—work hard, work smart and give them (DAP Sarawak) ‘telur’(zero seat),” said Dr Sim.
He said many are “mata merah” (jealous) of Sarawak government which had tabled a recorded budget of RM14.1 billion for 2026 in comparison to Selangor’s 2026 budget of RM3.23 billion and Johore, RM2.5 billion.
Maintaining that Sarawakian identity cards which start with “K” does not stand for “kaya” (rich) as the huge budget is meant for Sarawak building to allow the State to catch up with West Malaysia, he said the “K” which leads in Sarawakians’ identity cards, stands for “king” which means “hormat” (respect) for the people of Sarawak and the right things the State has been doing.
“This is why Sarawak in 2025 is a different Sarawak of 2015. In 2015, people look down on Sarawak. In 2025, people look up to Sarawak,” said Dr Sim who is also Deputy Premier, who, however, was uncertain if DAP Sarawak felt the same.
“But I am not sure DAP Sarawak felt the same or not as they are always ‘Malaysia First’ rather than ‘Sarawak First’. DAP just ‘tengooook saja’ (just stand and watch) when comes to Sarawak,” said Dr Sim.
He believed that Sarawakians would like to see the Federal government in Kuala Lumpur being sincere in the efforts of returning health and education autonomy back to Sarawak and Sabah; giving one-third parliamentary seats to the two Bornean States, allocating greater share of financial taxation for Sarawak under Article 112 (D) of the Federal Constitution, respecting Sarawak’s rights as gas aggregator and resolving PETRONAS and PETROS issue as well as all those outstanding issues listed under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the intergovernmental Commission (IGC) report.
“I am sure our Sarawak founding fathers would not have agreed for the formation of Malaysia if they realised after formation of Malaysia, we only get five percent of oil royalty for Sarawak oil. Our development is far behind compare to West Malaysia,” said Dr Sim.
He further expressed confusion and disappointment over the view of some Malaysians, especially Sarawakians, who called the Sarawakians’ fight for Sarawak’s autonomy as regionalism and discrimination.
“I am always puzzled and disappointed by any Malaysian especially Sarawakian including certain members of this august house who called Sarawak aspiration on Sarawak autonomy under MA 63 as regionalism and discrimination. But luckily, their boss, YAB (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim has agreed in principle for MA 63 to be implemented as he called it ‘adil or fair’ to the people of Sarawak and Sabah. We are grateful for YAB Anwar’s stand.” —DayakDaily
