Letter to the Editor
By Lating Minggang
The dawn of the unity government under the leadership of the charismatic Prime Minister (PM) Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim, does intrigue many political critics, as this new beginning brings high expectations and high hopes, among Malaysians in general, towards the new unity government.
Thus, many Malaysians were looking forward to see what were the major transformation changes, that have taken place, after the first 100 days the unity government had been in power.
In general, even though, there were mixed comments from a few critics with regard to the Prime Minister’s performance after being in office for 100 days, from Sarawak’s perspective, there was nothing much to shout about since he had not fulfilled much of the promises to Sarawak.
The Sarawakians concerned had their basis, since the earlier promises by the PM, included, but are not limited to, the issues of good governance, but also with regard to the issues about a fair, multi-racial, as well as, about the multi-religious agenda.
After the last 15th General Election (GE15) and which subsequently led to the formation of the unity government, the spirit of the rakyat was high as they really hoped that the new government under Anwar’s leadership as the PM, would not only bring unity, but also stability, to the country.
Also, there were other promises too, that includes, the cutting down of the unnecessary political squabbles, so that the people would be united in purpose, to get the nation’s economy back on track towards economic recovery.
Furthermore, during GE15, in his capacity as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman, Anwar also had reassured Sarawakians that, PH would resolve the issues related to Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as soon as possible. Anwar also said that if PH was to be given the mandate to be the government, all matters related to MA63 would be resolved without much negotiations, and they would implement whateverhad been committed to.
We should know that as a leader, when it comes to fulfilling promises, integrity and credibility are also at stake.
Nevertheless, the PM must be given the credit too, for his patience, perseverance and persistence, striving hard to bring the multi-religious and multi-racial population together, to unite in purpose towards achieving a common goal, and to work with him to help to build a new nation that is free from corruption and with good governance. Currently, this is still a work in progress.
However, recently, during the last Budget 2023 exercise, Sarawakians were dismayed to know that the region, yet again, continued to be “shortchanged” by the federal side when Sarawak got the least amount of budget allocations, as compared to its so called, equal partners, Sabah and Malaya.
Being a thoughtful leader and having the Malaysia agenda in mind, rightfully, the PM should have put Sarawak’s rural infrastructure development needs as one of his top priorities when it comes to Budget 2023 allocations. This is in consideration that rural areas in Sarawak are still lacking infrastructure development. This is also to help to narrow the development gap between rural and urban areas.
If Sarawak had been treated equally with equal partner status by the federal government from the very beginning, with a balanced budget across the board being allocated equally among the equal partners, poverty would had been eradicated long time ago and not be part of the politics of development in Sarawak, till today.
Sarawakians certainly would not like to see that the “equal partner status” is merely being used to give them a “feel-good feeling” only.
How could we, as a nation, could reach the status of being called developed when Sarawak’s rural areas are still lagging behind in terms of infrastructure development?
Looking at it from a broader point of view, it does take a strong political will to make and mend something that had been ongoing for the past 6 decades, since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.
It is undeniable that Sarawak will continue to get pittance and be ‘shortchanged’ by the federal government if there is no strong political will and no drastic and concrete actions taken by the new unity government to make remedy, to “make and mend”, the imbalance between Sarawak and Malaya.
Like the saying goes, where there is a will, there is always a way.
It is indeed still a long way to go to achieve the goal, to see that the country’s leaders in the federal government unite in purpose, and to see that allocations are distributed equally among the 3 equal partners, namely, Sarawak, Sabah and Malaya.
Lest we forget, for many years too, Sarawak had been regarded as the main source of the nation’s revenue generation, from its abundance natural resources, i.e. oil and gas, also known as the “black gold”. Some political critics, even have the cheek to call Sarawak a “cash cow”.
The federal authority should be thankful that Sarawak under Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg had agreed for the region to be a part of the unity government. This in fact does reflect that the Sarawak Premier is not only farsighted but visionary, as he values continued political stability in the country in order for it to continue to progress and to work on its economic recovery.
A quote by Blaine Lee goes, “When people honour each other, there is a trust established, that leads to synergy, interdependence and deep respect. Both parties make decisions and choices base on what is right, what is best, what is valued most highly”.
This should have been the formula that Malaysia should strived for, moving forward, or else, if we can’t change what we refuse to confront, we will always live in a state of denial. — DayakDaily
Lating Minggang is the Walikota for Kapit District Council.
This is the personal opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of DayakDaily. Letters to the Editor may be lightly edited for clarity.
