By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Jan 21: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth wing believes that non-local based political parties should not meddle in Sarawak politics.
Its chief, Michael Tiang, said Sarawak had no need for non-local based political parties like Gerakan in the state.
“First, being not locally based, these parties always either neglect or sacrifice Sarawak’s interests in the name of national interests, which always tilts the favour towards the central power in the peninsula.
“Second, we, Sarawakians, have seen so many examples in the past of how non-local based parties abandoned their interests in Sarawak after failing to make any advancement into the State Assembly. They then shift their focus elsewhere in the peninsula as Sarawak is not their only home base. Sarawak is also not their only concern on their political agenda.
“Third, with their headquarters and top leaders based in the peninsula, all the leaders they station in Sarawak are mere branch leaders or headquarters’ representatives who have little say or influence in their party’s top leadership, in respect of Sarawak’s demands.
“This is clearly evident when we look at the positions of those leaders from PKR Sarawak and DAP Sarawak today, ” Tiang told DayakDaily today.
Tiang was responding to the recent announcement of Gerakan president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau, who said the party was considering spreading its wings to Sarawak. He claimed there were requests from Sarawak for them to do so.
Tiang said the top priority for Sarawak now is to fight for its equal partner status and political independence.
“Sarawak must not only fight for the partner status equal to Peninsular Malaysia as provided in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 but also needs political independence in order to safeguard its position, rights and interests.
“To attain the above objectives, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is the most experienced and capable political coalition to lead and represent Sarawak by maintaining such desired levels of political integrity and independence for Sarawakians to have a more secure future,” opined Tiang. — DayakDaily
