By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 3: The only way to resolve Sarawak’s longstanding political and economic woes is for the State to exit from Malaysia by peaceful and legal means, said Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan in response to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s Merdeka Day speech.
Voon stressed that while the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) state Sarawak’s rights, the current political reality makes it impossible for the State to enforce them as long as Malaya holds control of the federal cabinet and parliament.
“At the moment, Malaya is in control of the federal government and parliament.
“Political parties from Malaya such as DAP (Democratic Action Party), PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat), Amanah (Parti Amanah Negara), PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia) could not help us because they are from Malaya.
“They win to take seats allocated to us away from us for Malaya. By parliamentary democracy, they are to obey their Malaya bosses. We simply don’t have the numbers to enforce our rights,” he asserted in a press statement.
He further argued that MA63 itself was flawed, citing international legal opinions and the Chagos Islands Case, which concluded colonies had no legal capacity to sign treaties with parent countries.
“Sabah and Sarawak, still colonies of the UK at the time, could not sign the treaty. Malaya was already independent, so MA63 was a scam,” Voon claimed.
According to him, Sarawak is currently estimated to be losing about RM110 billion annually in oil wealth, while Sabah loses about RM90 billion, ever since the implementation of the Petroleum Development Act 1974. However, Sarawak receives back less than RM5 billion a year as Annual Development Fund.
“PBK is fighting to bring Sarawak and Sabah out from Malaysia by peaceful and legal means, and we have the necessary strategies if given power to do so by Sabahans and Sarawakians,” Voon said. — DayakDaily
