KUCHING, Aug 6: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) cautioned that more resources from Sarawak including Native Customary Rights (NCR) land could one day be vested in the hands of a company set up by the federal government if Sarawakians do not protect and safeguard their motherland.
PBK president Voon Lee Shan pointed out that if the federal government could vest Sarawak’s oil and gas in the hands of Petronas, there was nothing to prevent them from also taking possession of Sarawak’s land including NCR land in the same manner.
“Under Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74), Sarawak has no more oil and gas, not a single drop in its possession. Oil and gas is now vested in Petronas.
“Sarawak has many other resources like coal and gold which could one day be vested in a company set up by the federal government. This will deprive the people of Sarawak of their own property,” he claimed in a statement today.
Voon emphasised that the federal government can easily do this because there was no way Members of Parliament (MPs) from Sarawak would be able to block a law to be passed in the Parliament to allow this.
“Peninsular Malaysia controls more than two-third of the seats in Parliament. Sarawak only has 31 MPs with some representing political parties like DAP and PKR. As such, Sarawak’s voice for past decades could hardly be heard in Parliament,” he elaborated.
In fact, he added that Sarawak had already lost many prime land to the federal government in the past years.
“Recently, it is said one big chunk of land somewhere in Telaga Air, not far from Kuching, which was supposed to be developed for federal government departments, has been left idle for about twenty years. The land is said to be still in the hands of the federal government,” he alleged.
Voon thus urged Sarawakians to think through carefully of the losses Sarawak had in past decades.
“Think, who now controls Bintulu Port and all airports in Sarawak? Are they still under the control of Sarawak or controlled by the federal government?
“We need change and the change we need is to get out of the federation. PBK is the only party that Sarawakians should place their hope to set Sarawak free from domination and imperialism of Malaya (Peninsula),” he added. —DayakDaily
