KUCHING, May 24: State Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo urged the Sarawak government to lift the entry ban on Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown so the Sarawak-born journalist could visit Sarawak to investigate many important issues.
“We welcome visitors to Sarawak and wish every guest a memorable stay as they are our ambassadors to promote Sarawak as the premier tourist destination after enjoying our unique Sarawak hospitality,” Soo said in a press statement today.
“Immigration ban is already so old-school and our Sarawak government should not misuse our immigration autonomy for political purposes. That is not the image of a politically matured and democratic government that Sarawak should show to the world.”
Soo also agreed with former soldier Fabian Wong who had reportedly asked Rewcastle-Brown to probe into the alleged failure of the British government to fulfill its trusteeship obligations to Sarawak following the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
Echoing Wong, Soo also urged Rewcastle-Brown to look into the British failure in respect of the role played by the British in the formation of Malaysia at the expense of Sarawak.
Soo claimed that Britain must fulfill its participative responsibility to ensure compliance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 as Sarawak’s rights and territorial integrity were being transgressed over in the loss of its political status to become one of 13 states of the Federation, loss of its parliamentary veto power upon the departure of Singapore, loss of its rights over oil and gas in Sarawak, and loss of Sarawak’s rights over its international waters to the federal government,
Soo argued that the British government is the architect and principal signatory to the Malaysia Agreement for the surrender of Sarawak’s sovereignty to the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, and Britain cannot be a silent bystander as Sarawak with its bountiful oil and gas reserves descends into one of the poorest regions.
Soo admitted that the British government did indeed put in “safeguards and protections” in the Malaysia Agreement, but it seemed many of these rights had been desecrated by the failure of the federal government to honour them.
As Rewcastle-Brown had declared her interest in Sarawak, Soo urged the former to uncover the Malaysia government’s multiple breaches of Sarawak rights as had been set out in the Malaysia Agreement, and to seek to discover if this constitutes willful discontinuance of the International Treaty and if so, to advocate remedial action, in the course of justice for Sarawak. — DayakDaily
