By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Oct 30: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth chief Michael Tiang has reminded Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) chief, Chong Chieng Jen, that he has a responsibility to tell Putrajaya about Sarawak’s entitlement as an equal partner in Malaysia.
Tiang said the situation should not be the other way round, where Chong, who is Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, represents Putrajaya to tell Sarawak what she was entitled to.
“I want to remind Chong that he is one of the two from Sarawak inside the Cabinet. Don’t come to tell Sarawakians how much we are entitled to the revenues and rights,” he told a press conference at party headquarters today.
Tiang insisted that Chong must remind his political master in Malaya that Sarawak is one of the biggest contributors to the national coffer.
“His (Chong) duty is not to represent the federal government to come back to Sarawak and to tell Sarawakians how much we deserve. How much we should bear with the bad economy so that we don’t get so much.
“He is expected by the people of Sarawak to go and tell his Malayan master how much Sarawak is entitled as an equal partner in Malaysia.
“Don’t try to make Sarawak serve federal. Constitutionally, it is for the federal to serve Sarawak. We have contributed enough,” Tiang emphasized.
He said it was most hilarious when Chong parroted what Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said about the “revenue sharing formula” to Sarawak.
“Chong didn’t even bother to stand up for Sarawak. What is the revenue sharing formula? There is no such thing as revenue sharing. There is always revenue payment to Sarawak, our shares according to the Federal Constitution.
“It’s ‘paying’, not ‘sharing’. Sarawak gives the federal rights to collect money. That does not mean the federal can keep our money.
“According to the Federal Constitution, the federal government needs to pay us grants according to Article 109 and special grants to Sarawak under Article 112C,” said Tiang. — DayakDaily
