The Sarawak Reform Party (Reform) has questioned the Sarawak government’s practice of celebrating Aug 31 (831) every year as the date did not have any particular significance to Sarawak and its history.

Their observance of the date, which was actually the anniversary of Malaya’s (peninsular Malaysia) independence, was even more absurd as the Sarawak government had only begun commemorating two other dates, July 22 (722) and Sept 16 (916), which were much more significant to and closely associated with Sarawak, only in recent years, said Reform in a press release.

“The Sarawak government only gazetted July 22, the anniversary of the date Sarawak received its self-governing authority from the British in 1963, to be a public holiday starting from this year, while Sept 16, the anniversary of the proclamation of Malaysia, was only celebrated since 2010.

“In contrast, the Sarawak government had never failed to celebrate 831 every year in different divisions on a rotation basis. Why do we need to celebrate a date that have nothing to do with Sarawak?” asked Reform publicity chief Winston Way in the release.

He added that 831 was supposed to celebrate the independence anniversary of Malaya, which became independent on Aug 31, 1957, while Sarawak was still a British colony and also was thus for almost six more years.

“Why do we need to continue celebrating 831? Aug 31, 1957 was not the day Malaysia gained its independence. Malaysia did not even exist on that date, until Sept 16, 1963. In fact, too, Malaysia was never ruled by a colonial power, so how could it achieve independence?

“If Chief Minister Adenan Satem is still adamant that Sarawak should and must be an equal member within the Federation of Malaysia with Malaya and Sabah, then we must celebrate our own ‘independence day’ and also 916. So far, the closest we have to an independence day is 722, but if it still brings doubts to many people, at least it is the best we have, rather than celebrating other people’s independence day,” added Winston.

He also questioned statements by certain politicians recently, who insisted Sarawakians should not consider 722 as their ‘independence day’ and some of them also suggested 916 to be Sarawak’s ‘real independence day’, insisting that “Sarawak gained her independence through Malaysia”.

“Maybe their views were fair enough. But if 722 is not Sarawak’s Independence Day at all, and 916 should be the correct one, why did then the Sarawak government only celebrated it from 2010, and only as ‘Malaysia Day’? Even more confusing, why did they insist that Sarawakians celebrate 831 as Sarawak’s sole independence day for decades now?” Winston said.

Therefore, he added, it would be more or less self-defeating for Adenan and the Sarawak government if they continue to organise a so-called ‘state-level Merdeka celebrations’ on Aug 31 in one of Sarawak’s divisions this year, when they had talked a lot about fighting for Sarawak’s rights and special status within the Federation of Malaysia.

“Should Sarawak continue to celebrate Malaya’s independence anniversary this year, will it not mean Sarawak is actually a subordinate state within Malaysia? Will it mean Sarawak is not an equal partner within Malaysia as insisted by the Sarawak government?” he asked.

WINSTON WAY is publicity chief, Sarawak Reform Party (Reform).