KUCHING, Aug 1: Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) is looking forward to seeing if Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) performs better than Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in dealing with the issue of statelessness.
PBDSB information chief William Mangor stated he agreed with Sarawak PH chief Chong Chieng Jen’s statement that GPS has not been able to make major improvement in this matter.
“GPS or (formerly known as) BN (Barisan Nasional) Sarawak still couldn’t improve the statelessness situation even with the establishment of a special committee.
“The results of the so-called special committee still couldn’t live up to the expectations of the families whom are facing the issues.
“It (GPS special committee) has proven enough that it is very ineffective and the outcomes after applying also ended up being very unfair to the applicants and their families,” according to William in a statement.
William added the majority of those facing the issue of statelessness are the Dayak community, and that it was indeed right for Chong to say that the applicants have been compelled to live their lives as stateless persons for years.
“As such, although Chong had pointed out that Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah had not performed and had failed, Chong must prove that PH can do better by ensuring these applicants are not to undergo the same nightmare as how they did when it is handled by GPS/BN Sarawak.
“We look forward to observing whether PH can walk the talk on this part, and perform better than GPS on this statelessness issue,” he said.
William stated that it is PBDSB’s stand to support good policy or any policy which benefits the people of Sarawak, regardless of political party or religion.
Meanwhile, he also pointed out that for the natives outside city, a DNA test alone is very costly.
“How would a rural family afford such cost just to prove that they are siblings of those who are already an official citizen with MyKad?” William questioned. — DayakDaily
