So far, no Prime Minister had protected Sarawak rights since Malaysia was formed and the voices from GPS leaders in the last few days seeking the coming 9th prime minister to be mindful of taking care of Sarawak’s rights will be a dream only.
Sarawak’s rights could only be protected by Sarawak being set free and independent first. This is the requirement of international law and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 which gives Sarawak the right of self-determination and decolonization. Sarawak was not given any opportunity at all by way of a referendum to decide for herself whether Sarawakians wanted to be part of Greater Malaya.
Tunku Abdul Rahman never gave Sarawak the chance to decolonize and instead secretly negotiated or agreed to take Sarawak as a gift to enlarge the territories of Malaya on 16 September, 1963. Malaya then took a new name, Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysia is not a new nation.
Under Tun Razak as 2nd prime minister, Sarawak lost her oil and gas under Petroleum Development Act 1974. During the time Razak was prime minister, Sarawak first chief minister Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan was forced to leave office.
Under Tun Hussein as 3rd prime minister, the most significant erosion of Sarawak’s rights was the amendment to Article 1(2) which was among 48 amendments to the federal constitution under a Bill tabled by Tun Hussein on July 12, 1976 and was passed on July 13, 1976. This essentially downgraded the Territory of Sarawak to the status of “negeri” – see Dayak Daily Sept 24, 2017
Under Dr. Mahathir Mohammed, serious damage and erosions of Sarawak’s rights in his 22 years as prime minster took place. We lost many prime land somewhere not far from Matang area in Kuching to the federal government. We also lost many NCR Land to malayans and to companies from Malaya. Dr. Mahathir did not restored any barrel of crude oil and gas pumped by Petronas in his 22 years in office and he never be bothered to increase the royalties of oil and gas paid to Sarawak. Again, when he became PM in May 2018 Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and Pakatan Harapan did not fulfill the promises in their elections campaign to increase the oil and gas royalties to 20%. They also promised to give back 50% of all taxes collected by the federal government from Sarawak, but, where are they?
Under Abullah Badawi, the federal government allowed two substantial oil producing zones in South China Sea be taken by Brunei that belonged to Sarawak. I doubt the Sarawak Dewan Undangan Negeri approved the “surrendering” of these oil producing zones – see The Edge online dated May 03, 2010
Under Tun Najib, Sarawak people suffered a lot by Najib administration passing at least six laws that constituted into direct encroachment into Sarawak’s rights. These are:- see 13 February, 2018 Malaysiakini.
1. The Goods and Services Tax Act, 2014 (encroachment into Sarawak’s rights to Sales Tax).
2. The Tourism Tax Act, 2017 (encroachment into Sarawak’s tourism rights and also rights to Sales Tax).
3. The Territorial Sea Act 2012 (encroachment into Sarawak’s territorial rights by reducing Sarawak’s territorial rights from 200 nautical miles to a mere three nautical miles).
4. The National Security Council Act 2015 (encroachment of state’s democratic rights by giving the power to prime minister and a few Umno ministers to call for emergency rule in the state).
5. The Access to Biological Resources and Benefits Sharing Act, 2017 (encroaching on state's rights to forest resources) and the;
6. The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill 2017 (encroachment into State’s rights to port management).
In addition, Najib has also caused great economic hardship to common Sarawakians with 1MDB scandal and terrible economic management resulting in the depreciation of the ringgit and the rise in our costs of living.
Under Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin, his administration’s handling of covid-19 is disastrous and Sarawakians’ livelihood have been affected badly.
Sarawakians are urged no more to support PBB, GPS and any Malayan political parties because to support them will not be in the best interest of Sarawak. GPS especially PBB had failed as our watchman protect the erosions of Sarawak’s rights. The hope of Sarawakians to protect Sarawak rights now only lies with Parti Bumi Kenyalang and Parti Bumi Kenyalang will pursue Sarawak’s right to independence and be freed from Malaya.
VOON LEE SHAN
PRESIDENT
PARTI BUMI KENYALANG
18 August, 2021