KUCHING, March 7: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Stakan branch chief Dato Sim Kiang Chiok has expressed its disappointment following the federal government’s non-movement with regards to the recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
He was also disappointed with Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak as a linchpin partner in the unity government which pledged to demand for UEC recognition in their 15th General Election (GE15), but did not do so.
“This tells us that DAP cannot be relied on for Chinese aspirations because it is evident that they just can’t do it.
“Evidenced again by their first tenure during the previous 22-month Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, they did nothing for the recognition of UEC, instead they cut off funding for TAR University, the very institution that helped thousands of Chinese children access affordable higher education,” he said in a statement today.
Sim also mentioned that the SUPP Stakan branch felt slighted that although Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is part of the government, the allocation made for Sarawak in the budget was abysmal and much lower than the latter was hoping for.
“Thankfully the wise money management by GPS allows Sarawak to push on, but we cannot afford to let this continue because the fair allocation is our right and should be given regardless,” he stated.
At the same time, he criticised the MP allocation cut which he said would mean that MPs in Sarawak will have to look to GPS to help top up or look to their ADUNs (assemblymen) to assist with the cut.
“In our opinion, allocations for Sarawak MPs should not only have been just maintained, but increased because of the fact that in Sarawak, we have larger constituencies as well as density in city constituencies.
“All in all, we are not very pleased with the performance thus far but hope that things will improve soon because the government will benefit from the stability that has been achieved and hopefully from it, we will see the needed institutional reforms in cutting down the wastage and leakages, increased prosperity for all Malaysians and a better deal for Sarawak,” he added. — DayakDaily
