(KUCHING, May 6 - DayakDaily) Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) and Sabah Sarawak Rights Australia New Zealand (SSRANZ), an international NGO based in Australia, issued a joint statement calling on Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg to rename Sarawak as the “Republic of Sarawak”.
PBK president Voon Lee Shan and SSRANZ president Robert Pei said Sarawakians are confused over what they said was the unclear status of Sarawak in Malaysia. They argued that when the British handed over the sovereignty of Sabah and Sarawak without independence to Malaya on Sept 16, 1963, the change of status of the two Bornean Regions was not even recorded by the United Nations.