KUCHING, March 20: Without pressure from civil society and the opposition, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government with “strong support” will do nothing to respect or return Sarawak’s rights, said Democratic Action Party (DAP) leader Dr Kelvin Yii.
Dr Yii, who is special assistant to state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, said the Sarawak BN government, with full representation in Parliament, is responsible for signing away the state’s rights in the first place.
“The fact of the matter is it was the calls from civil society and the opposition, for our state’s rights first, then only was such an agenda “adopted” by the BN government.
“If there was no pressure, the BN government in their complacency and “strong support”, would not have done anything. Thus, can we risk giving back greater power to BN in view of what they have done in the past and the little they are doing now even with such overwhelming support?” Yii, DAP’s potential candidate for Stampin parliamentary seat said in a press statement today.
He was responding to Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) president Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian’s statement calling on all Sarawakians to support BN as “only through unity behind BN the state will be strong and will have a stronger voice to request anything from the federal government, including out state’s rights to be respected”.
“This is akin to ask us Sarawakians to put our trust in the thief that stole our rights in the first place and also all his accomplices that willingly allowed it to happen,” Dr Yii said.
He added that the BN component party leader’s statement had clearly revealed the heart and intention of the BN federal government that Sarawakians’ rights will only be respected if and only if their condition is met.
“This shows insincerity and downright disrespect to what is already rightfully ours regardless of who is in power.
“On top of that, this shows the “beggars’ mentality” SUPP and BN Sarawak has when it comes to Sarawak’s rights. They are subservient and agreeable to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib (Tun Razak)’s “blackmail” that our rights will only be returned if we support Barisan Nasional. Those are our rights to begin with, and what is rightfully ours should not be dangled in front of the people as bait for their own political purposes,” he said.
Yii added that the same propaganda was used by SUPP and BN Sarawak during the previous state election. However, after BN Sarawak got an overwhelming majority through winning 73 out of 82 seats, representing close to 90 per cent of support from the people of Sarawak, nothing has since been done in terms of getting back the state’s autonomy, including the demand for 20 per cent oil royalty. — DayakDaily
