By Nancy Nais
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20: All parliamentarians (MPs) from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) will not stand down on issues related to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri revealed that they would continue to negotiate for as long as it takes to have all of Sarawak’s rights restored.
“As what we have mentioned and explained to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Sarawak is not asking for more or anything extra. We are only demanding for what was ours under MA63, which we were sidelined all these years.
“Although we were voted out of the federal government, we are still the state government. We will voice this out, especially in Parliament. And in order to do so, we need all your support in order to restore our rights,” Nancy said at the Lan Berambeh Anak Sarawak 2018 event here today.
The full-day programme, which touched mainly on developments and updates that the state government is doing, was held at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC). It attracted more than 7,000 Sarawakians who are either working or studying in West Malaysia.
Nancy also explained to the crowd that Sarawak is an “equal partner” and not ‘one of the 13 states” in Malaysia.
Having said that, she said being given a label alone is not enough because GPS also wanted Dr Mahathir to commit to the status.
“On the issue of oil and gas, I will always repeat this. The oil and gas are in our soil. They are ours. It is not for the federal government to determine 20 per cent or whatever percentage they want to allocate to us. It is for us to determine how much we should get, not them.”
To a question on why only now that GPS is ‘demanding’ for the rights of Sarawakians and not during the Barisan Nasional (BN) era, Nancy said if anyone bothered to check the records of state lawmakers, it was obvious that they were not the type to quarrel or fight.
“It is not the nature of GPS MPs, state assemblymen or politicians to quarrel. We are not that type of people who fight or claimed to be the best. We chose to be diplomatic and negotiate.
“As Sarawak MPs, we will make sure that we do not quarrel but work together to move forward. This is the spirit of the formation of Malaysia and what our forefathers wanted when we joined as an equal partner,” she said. — DayakDaily
