MIRI, June 29: Sarawakians should be given a chance to decide whether Sarawak should secede from Malaysia.
Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) president Bobby William, in a statement, suggested that the state government hold a referendum as it seemed the call to leave the federation is growing louder.
“We are separated by the South China Sea, and we have a lot of differences with other states in Malaysia. Sarawak, together with Sabah and Singapore, formed the Malaysian Federation with Malaya. But in 1965, Singapore opted to leave,” he said.
Bobby said this in response to Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth secretary-general Milton Foo’s suggestion to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to hold a referendum on seceding from the federation.
PBDSB believed that if Singapore could leave the federation 54 years ago, then Sarawak could do likewise.
If the plan comes true, Bobby suggests getting an international body, like the United Nations (UN), to be the watchdog to monitor the whole process.
“This is a democratic country. We are equal partners but different entities. It should be no big deal for us to cancel this partnership called `Malaysia’, as it doesn’t benefit us,” he said.— DayakDaily
