KUCHING, August 2: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) has advised Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) to focus on restoring Sarawak’s rights rather than defending PH’s election manifesto.
Its president, Cobbold John, said as part of the federal government and as Sarawakians, Sarawak PH should convince Putrajaya to honour its promises to Sarawak, especially with regards to the oil and gas issue.
“Why not just restore 100 per cent of Sarawak’s rights first? Are they afraid that by doing so, it might go against Petronas?” Cobbold asked.
In a statement, he reasoned that if Sarawak PH was able to help reclaim the state’s rights, there would be no need to politicise the oil royalties issue further.
“They only need to ensure the federal government complies with Sarawak’s rights, as how it is spelled out in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), and guarantee that Sarawak’s autonomy is duly honoured under the Federal Constitution.
“Let Sarawak determine and dictate its way forward, as how an autonomous state should be,” asserted Cobbold.
He also took a swipe at Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leaders for not doing anything for decades during the reign of the Barisan Nasional (BN), until the late former Chief Minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem (Tok Nan) pointed it out.
He said GPS had all the opportunities to restore Sarawak’s rights ever since the proclamation of the Emergency Act under Article 150 was lifted on November 2011.
“But after Tok Nan passed away, actions towards restoration cooled and left a big opening for criticisms. GPS should not blame anyone but themselves. Only after leaving BN have they begun to talk, voice out and speak up daringly as Sarawakians, claiming Sarawak has been bullied all these years.
“Why show their Sarawakism nature now? Why not before?”
He wondered what it would be like in the state if PH did not win the May 9 polls — would the state BN leave the BN coalition, form GPS and start speaking out “daringly”, like what they are doing now? — DayakDaily
