Sarawak DAP has taken aim at state parties, particularly SUPP, for voting in favour a 1976 constitutional amendment which "downgraded" Sarawak from a region, equal to peninsular Malaysia, into a state.

"SUPP always claimed that it, being a Sarawak-based party, has been fighting for Sarawak's rights since its inception in the 1959.

"Yet, when the constitutional amendment was tabled in Parliament in 1976, its MPs supported the downgrading of Sarawak into one of the 13 states in Malaysia.

"The irony of the whole matter is, the so-called local parties supported the said 1976 constitutional amendment, which erode Sarawak's right, but on the other hand, DAP, a national party, voted against the 1976 constitutional amendment and defended Sarawak's status," Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen said in a statement today.