KUCHING, Nov 8: In a rare act of agreement, PBDS sees eye-to-eye with PRS that Sarawak has received an “unfair” share under Budget 2021 with Sarawak not being treated as one of the three founding territories within the federation of Malaysia.
Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) president Bobby William in a statement, underlined his support for a statement made by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing who is also the Deputy Chief Minister.
“At this point, I do agreed with him and to me there is nothing wrong for him as the president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and as the second largest component in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to criticise the ‘unfair’ budget for the three founding regions of Federation of Malaysia,” Bobby asserted.
Bobby in an earlier statement on the federal Budget 2021 held that the budget was not fair as it sidelined the Dayak community. He asserted there must be a specific allocation for the Dayak community as the largest race in Sarawak.
“Therefore, my message to Tan Sri, I know you did it before, you also can do it now. We know you can fight for the rights of the Dayaks within the GPS coalition. You don’t have to listen to anybody as you are representing the Dayaks in the party which formed the Sarawak government. Keep it up,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bobby took a swipe at Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah who is also the Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister for taking the view that it was not the time to demand more from the national budget.
“No, it is not demanding. We want fair allocation. We want specific allocation to the Dayaks community. We want the welfare of the Dayaks to be taken care of by the federal government, as the Dayaks also contribute to tax and our community does contribute a lot to economic sectors in Sarawak,” Bobby added.
He also expressed disagreement with the view of PBB president Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg who is the Sarawak Chief Minister that in this era, the brain is more important than land, citing the success of billionaire tech entrepreneurs Jack Ma and Mark Zuckerberg.
“To me it is quite wrong when he compares ‘Tanah Dan Otak’ (land and brain). Are we Dayaks (by having a lot of native customary rights land) less smart than other communities in Sarawak?” Bobby questioned. — DayakDaily
