KUCHING, August 16: State Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo and her Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) counterpart, Munan Laja, are now part of the Sarawak Baru pro tem presidential council.
Soo and Munan are vice-chairpersons, along with Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) seceretary-general Banyi Beriak, announced Sarawak Baru protem chairman Cobbold John Lusoi.
Cobbold, who is also Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) president, said the party’s Youth secretary, Julius Enchana, would be the council’s pro tem secretary-general, while Chieng Lee Ping from STAR its pro tem treasurer.
Other presidential council members will be elected by the coalition’s partners, namely PBDSB, STAR, Teras and SWP.
“The pro tem presidential council will be on a rotational basis until the coalition’s registration with ROS (Registrar of Societies) is finalised.
“Recently, Sarawak Baru agreed to form a working committee and has assigned each of the four parties to undertake tasks they are more familiar with or specialised in,” Cobbold said in a statement.
He reiterated that STAR had been assigned to study and compile issues relating to Malaysia Agreement 1963, Sarawak’s rights over oil and gas resources, Territorial Sea Act 2012 and Petroleum Development Act 1974.
PBDSB will address issues relating to native customary rights (NCR) land, Dayak customs and other Dayak-related issues. SWP is entrusted with tackling labour issues in Sarawak, particularly in the oil and gas industry, oil palm plantations and construction sector.
“SWP is also tasked to study the Sarawak Labour Ordinance, which we feel has many outdated provisions that need to be updated or amended to meet current and future demands and challenges in the labour market,” said Cobbold.
Teras, meanwhile, is to nail issues relating to infrastructure development and facilities in the state.
With the appointments to the pro tem presidential council, Cobbold hoped the committee would be focused in their tasks heading to the next state election, which must be called by 2021. — DayakDaily
