By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 14: The organisers of the upcoming 722 Sarawak Independence Day Cultural Parade 2025 will mark the occasion with the reading and public signing of a seven-point declaration asserting Sarawak’s rights and identity—a symbolic gesture of unity and self-determination that will culminate in the banners being delivered to the Sarawak Governor Tun Pehin Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
In a statement today, the organising committee announced that the 722 Sarawak Independence Day Declaration has been finalised, encapsulating key demands on autonomy, resource ownership, native land rights and education.
These declarations, they said, will be publicly displayed in English and Malay on large banners during the parade on July 22, 2025, where members of the public will be invited to ink their signatures in support.
“These banners shall be forwarded to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak and Sarawak Premier, for their attention and follow-up actions,” the committee said.
Similar banners were signed and displayed in Telang Usan in 2013 and in Tasek Biru, Bau, in 2018.
The declarations include calls for the full implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the exclusion of Sarawak from the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA 1974), and formal recognition and titling of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.
Also among the demands are free higher education for all Sarawakians, fair distribution of jobs and business opportunities in line with Sarawak’s ethnic composition, the revival of the Sarawak Rangers, and safeguards to ensure all academic institutions remain secular and free from religious indoctrination.
The full declaration will be read aloud during the parade, affirming what the organisers describe as Sarawak’s “unity, rights, and sovereign identity.”
The organising committee for the 722 Sarawak Independence Day Cultural Parade 2025 is led by Francis James Noew (organising chairman), supported by Anthony David (organising secretary), Haji Awang Ahmad (advisor), Raymond Thong (advisor), Patrick Anek (Legal), Dominique Ng (Legal), Bruce Walker (Treasurer), and Alim GA Mideh (Publicity). – DayakDaily
