LETTER | Prime Minister Najib Razak’s recent statement at the closing of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) triennial delegates conference (TDC) speaks volumes of his and Barisan Nasional’s hypocrisy and insincerity of returning the rightful rights of Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysian Agreement 1963.

In his address, he held the people of Sarawak to “ransom” by claiming that he will only restore Sarawak’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) on two conditions; that there are no talks of secession from Malaysia and that Sarawakians must support Barisan Nasional (BN).

This is an outright "blackmail" and disrespect to the people of Sarawak as well as the principle of the international agreement.

First and foremost, our rights under MA63 are our rights, as spelt out under the agreement, and it is not for him to use as a political tool or to set conditions on what is rightfully ours. The fact of the matter is, it was the very same Barisan Nasional government that stole what was ours and eroded our rights over the years in the first place, and yet he had the nerve to set conditions on its return.

This is akin to a thief coming to your house to steal your belongings and then setting conditions for the return of the belongings that is rightfully yours. This speaks volumes of their insincerity on the matter and they will only respect us if it suits the conditions that favour the PM who is desperately clinging onto power.

In the Pakatan Harapan manifesto, we pledge to recognise MA63 as well as return certain autonomous rights to the State once we get into power. Such a "condition" is necessary as we do not have federal power and the authority to do so, unlike BN who has every authority and power to return our right today, but instead chose to "blackmail" us with our own rights for the benefit and self-interest of the BN government.

The fact of the matter is, Sarawak already gave a strong mandate to BN in 2013 general elections and 2016 state elections with 80 percent and close to 90 percent of the seats went to BN respectively, yet little to nothing was done in terms of returning our rights to the state. Questions need to be asked of whether Najib and the current government can be trusted after the multiple ‘U-turns’ and broken promises to the people.

What is worse is how SUPP, PBB and other Sarawak BN component parties sat there and probably cheered even though we were held ransom by the Prime Minister. Until now, there were no signs of them speaking up against the Prime Minister for such an irresponsible statement.

Some within SUPP has have tried to make an argument that the past leaders were ‘naïve’ and ‘wrong’ to have given away our rights in the past, but the current crop of leaders are determined to get it back. However, they have failed to consider the fact that the current crop of leaders’ constant support for the "thief" even with full knowledge of what happened is much worse in comparison to the past leaders that may have been "naïve" or "ignorant" in giving away our rights.

I am not saying the past leaders do not have to be accountable for their decisions, but the current crop of leaders knowingly empowers and supports the very same government that took away our rights in the first place, on top of supporting the government that is caught up in multiple alleged international financial scandals including 1MDB, Felda, Mara, Tabung Haji and many others as well as the constant abuse of power and infringement of basic human rights.

SUPP and these so-called local parties in BN are accomplices to the alleged crime and with their support, they are sending a message to our children that those who steal from the people and mismanage our country can get away with it as long as their own benefit and self-interest is protected.

That is why, in this upcoming election, a decision has to be made. Our decision will not only affect the socio-economic standing of our country, but also the message we want to send to our future generations of whether we took the bold step to change, or continued to support a “thief” since it may be more convenient or to our own benefit.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.