MIRI, Aug 4: State Reform Party (STAR) has announced that it is eyeing three seats in Miri – Pujut, Senadin and Piasau – in the upcoming Sarawak Election which must be called by next year.
STAR after a press conference today also expressed its support for former Pujut Fong Pau Teck.
STAR president Lina Soo explained that Fong has STAR’s support because he has been consistent in serving the community when he was YB (state elected representative), and even after he failed in his bid to retain Pujut for a second term, he never stopped serving the rakyat until today.
Fong who was present at the press conference confirmed his intention to stand in Pujut, but said he would reveal at a later stage if he would stand as independent candidate or under any political banner, as he is now focussing on pro-independence movement.
On oil and gas, Soo says that PDA (Petroleum Development Act 1974) is just another federal law which applies to the Malayan states but cannot be applied to Sarawak.
“Oil and gas belongs to Sarawak, therefore Petronas must comply with OMO (Oil Mining Ordinance 1958) and apply for the licences to operate in Sarawak. If not, Petronas is operating illegally in Sarawak.
“To my knowledge, Petronas has not paid the Sarawak 5 per centsales tax. I call upon the Sarawak government to increase the sales tax on Sarawak hydrocarbons to 20 per cent in 2020, and 38 per cent in 2022.
“This is because the federal government collects Petroleum income tax (PITA) of 38 per cent to 45 per cent, royalty, dividend, taxes and extraordinary bonuses. Sarawak cannot always be begging on its own land,” said Soo.
On the issue of local council elections, Soo says it is another sick promise of Pakatan Harapan (PH) to say that they must take over Sarawak local government to bring council elections back.
“Drawing upon the experiences of Penang and Selangor, they have already failed to institute council elections despite decades of state rule under PH. If they cannot even deliver UEC (Unified Examination Certificate) recognition to Chinese scholars, how can they deliver any other promise, except it is just another bait to hoodwink the voters?”
Meanwhile, Soo thanked Lanang MP YB Alice Lau for bringing the issue of Sarawak independence to the attention of Parliament by asking what action will be taken against Sarawakians clamouring for secession.
“YB Alice must have listened to the sentiments of Sarawakians and collected data on the issue to justify bringing it before Parliament.”
“I urge YB Alice Lau to continue to pursue the matter, and with her DAP colleagues, to table a Private Members’ Bill in Parliament to grant an independence referendum to Sarawakians.
“This is a challenge YB Alice Lau must take up since she has already started the ball rolling in response to the feedback she has received from her constituents,” said Soo.
Soo also supported (Assistant Corporate Affairs Minister ) YB Abdullah Saidol’s statement that the threat of Sedition Act in response to Sarawakians who speak of secession is “a hostile statement”.
Soo said STAR was also in agreement with (SUPP Batu Kitang assemblyman) YB Khere Chiang’s recent disclosure that many Sarawakians want Sarawak independence.
“DUN is the avenue for an Inquiry as empowered under the Inter-Governmental Committee Reports to gauge the peoples’ sentiments towards a specific Sarawak issue, and our ADUN can move to pass a resolution in DUN to achieve this end.”
“As our MPs and ADUN are brave enough to gather feedbacks pertaining to Sarawak independence, they must already have collected some data which can be published in a government finding,” Soo challenged. — DayakDaily
