This is in reply to Richard Loh’s letter titled ‘An open letter to Sarawakians’.

“Because we think of our future generations, that is why you must give your full support to your Chief Minister Adenan.”

Dear fellow Sarawakians,

Yes, I am Sarawakian and I am Malaysian. That is what I see when I look at my identity card or passport. Therefore I know about the 1963 Malaysia agreement ensuring 18/20 points which are rights unique and guaranteed for Sabah and Sarawak.

And I know that Sabah and Sarawak are equal partners to peninsular Malaysia and special autonomy powers are vested with us.

This is why Sarawak can use our rights to ban peninsular politicians and activists from both BN and Pakatan Harapan who are known trouble-makers intent on inciting hatred and/or exploit race/religious issues in their politicking.

We treasure our peace and harmony and we know that Sarawak elections are for Sarawakians. Both Pakatan and BN have more than enough local representatives that can campaign for ourselves and we do not need known trouble-makers from peninsular to help campaign in here.

Yes, like all of Malaysia and 95 percent of the world, we pay taxes including the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

As part of the deliberate strategy of reforming our taxation system, Malaysia has gone on to a modern system practised by the vast majority of the world.

If Malaysia is to be a developed country, we must practise modern systems and not outdated systems.

Do you want Malaysia to be modern or backward?

As part of the GST roll-out, personal income taxes and corporate taxes were reduced while the Sales and Service Tax was completely abolished. This is something that Pakatan leaders never mention when they harp on the GST.

At the same time, a social safety was established by introducing minimum wages and a direct cash transfer system called BR1M to ensure the lower-income groups benefit more than they are taxed.

The GST solves a variety of problems including tax evasion, illicit money outflow and help us mitigate over-dependence on commodity prices exposed to wild fluctuations. It gives resilience to our economy and this has been proven true the past year when the rest of the world have experienced uncertainty while Malaysia's economy remains resilient.

And yes, the GST is a tax by the federal government - which is why I am very angry at PKR and DAP for promising to abolish GST in their manifesto for the Sarawak elections of 2016.

Do PKR and DAP think us Sarawakians are stupid to believe that if they win Sarawak, they can abolish GST?

Empty promise

They cannot and this empty promise is an attempt to hoodwink Sarawakians. If this can be done then Penang and Selangor would have already abolished GST.

PKR and DAP should also explain to us if GST is such a bad thing then why do 95 percent of the other countries in the world have the same?

Another irresponsible move by Pakatan is to allege that GST will increase if BN wins the Sarawak elections. Our prime minister has already rubbished this claim.

It cannot be denied that since 2008, the focus by the federal government on development in Sarawak has been huge. More than ever, a larger percentage of the federal budget is spent on development on Sarawak and Sabah.

The long-awaited Pan-Borneo Highway already in construction is a very visible proof of this.

As for 1MDB, so far there has not been any bail-out of 1MDB. In fact, 1MDB has paid off the RM950 million credit line that was given to it last year by the federal government - along with RM7 billion other debts over the past month.

1MDB right now have no more short-term loans and has a cash balance of RM2.3 billion to develop their two remaining projects in Bandar Malaysia and TRX - which will provide more than enough cash-flow to service the remaining bonds and loans.

The IPIC-Aabar dispute is of course a concern but 1MDB is confident they have enough documented proof to win a dispute - which is why 1MDB refused to pay the US$50 million interest on the IPIC bonds under dispute even though they have the cash to do so.

Despite the scare-mongering attempts of Pakatan leaders, the stability of our ringgit and our bond rates is proof that the financial markets understand the 1MDB dispute is not a major concern.

Therefore the question of bailing out 1MDB does not even arise.

Yes. Sarawak owes RM2.5 billion to the federal government due to various loans extended by them for development projects here.

But did you mention how much Sarawak has in our state reserves?

It was RM27 billion as at end 2014.

Yes, Penang owes the least after shaving off nearly 90 percent of its federal debt, from almost RM700 million to only RM69.3 million but did DAP tell you how this was done?

In 2010, it was the federal government who helped Penang repay an outstanding RM655 million loan by taking over certain Penang state water assets.

Changing the loan to a lease

But in return for abolishing this debt, the Penang government signed to pay an annual lease rental of RM14.56 million over 45 years to the federal government - essentially Penang changing the loan to a lease.

An accounting trick as the end result is the same that you must pay.

The Penang government also likes to boast that they have RM1 billion state reserve but DAP failed to mention that the same Auditor-General’s Report also shows that Sarawak has a reserve of RM27.03 billion as at end 2014 - an increase of RM3.67 billion from 2013.

DAP also used to boast that they have the highest investments in the country?

Well, that was only true for the year 2010 and 2011. Since then, Sarawak under the leadership of Adenan has long overtaken them.

According to MIDA, in 2014 Penang was third and drew RM8.16 billion in investments - behind Sarawak’s RM9.64 billion.

While in 2015, Sarawak increased our lead by drawing RM11.82 billion compared to Penang at fifth place with only RM6.72 billion.

In Sarawak, we are blessed that we do not have race and religious conflicts and it is because of the good leadership and autonomy of the Sarawak BN government that such harmony was preserved.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Adenan Satem has done an excellent job - from preserving the peace and harmony, winning greater autonomy powers from the federal government, increasing investments, reducing electricity rates, reducing or abolishing assessment rates, implementing development projects, preserving the environment and checking illegal timber-felling, reducing ferry rates, completely abolishing all highway tolls...

The list goes on and on - that is why Sarawakians love Adenan who has united us.

Pakatan themselves can learn from Adenan as they are not even able to unite DAP and PKR who are now fighting among themselves out of pure greed for seats and power.

And you want us to vote for you in these state elections?

They should count themselves lucky if we don't punish them for their mutual backstabbing and greed for seats.

Adenan has stated that he only wants five more years to complete what he started and will not stand for elections again. He wants us to give him his full support to enable him to negotiate with the Federal govt even harder to further improve Sarawak.

Should we deny him this and punish Adenan for his many successes?

Should we deny ourselves the one and the only chance ever to show full support to Adenan as there will no longer be any chance to vote for Adenan's team in future?

And precisely because I am Malaysian, I know that this Sarawak election is a state election. This has nothing to do with the general elections just two years away where I can then exercise my vote in choosing the federal government.

Sarawakians are not easily fooled into confusing a state election with a federal election.

Don’t try to fool us.

For this election, I will reward my dear Chief Minister Adenan Satem and his team.

I am doing this because I see he has proven himself and done marvelously. I am eager to give him five more years to complete his job and fulfill his promises.

MICHAEL KULOW is a Bidayuh lawyer from Bau, Kuching, Sarawak.