KUCHING, July 5: Michael Kong, a special assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, has urged the Sarawak government to reveal the outcome from an official trip to London in July 2017 on a ‘fact-finding mission on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63)’.
He noted that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) sent a team comprising eight experts including lawyers on that trip.
“It has been five years since the highly publicised trip but we have yet to hear any outcome of this trip.
“Needless to say, we have yet to see any documents from this trip being used to push for more autonomy pursuant to MA63,” he said in a statement today.
Kong further said that during the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government, GPS played the role of a ‘kingmaker’ as both sides of the political divide tried to court it for the support of its 18 MPs.
GPS chose to support the then Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and this allowed the formation of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) plus GPS federal government.
“Even when Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as the Prime Minister, GPS once again was given the role of a ‘kingmaker’ but it chose to side with Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and this led to the resurgence of the race-based politics that United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) subscribe to,” he added.
Kong also described the present government as a ‘failed government’ for its failure to combat high inflation.
At the same time, he blamed GPS for allowing the erosion of Sarawak’s rights pursuant to MA63 since the party has been part of the federal government since the formation of Malaysia.
“GPS had the second chance to right the wrong in 2020 but did not capitalise on its ‘kingmaker’ status. Likewise in 2021, it was given the third chance but again GPS failed to use its position and power to fight for Sarawakians.
“As the saying goes, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me’.
“Sarawakians have been fooled not once (1963 to 2018), twice (2020-2021) but thrice (2021-2022)! We cannot allow ourselves to be fooled by the recycled empty promises of GPS and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP),” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
