If Sarawak had to spend millions to celebrate Malaya's independence on Aug 31, why are those in the peninsula not celebrating the Kenyalang state's independence day on July 22, posed a Sarawak DAP member.

"Is it wrong for Sarawak DAP to urge the state government to stop spending millions to hold Merdeka day rallies and focus instead on Sarawak’s independence day on July 22, as well as Malaysia Day on Sept 16?

"It is just unnecessary for Sarawakians to celebrate Malayan independence day in Sarawak. On the other hand, why is peninsula Malaysia not celebrating July 22 which is Sarawak’s independence day?" Petra Jaya DAP Youth publicity secretary Abdul Aziz Isa asked in a statement.

He was responding to lambast against state DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen over the latter's proposal for Sarawak to focus on celebrating its own independence day in addition to Malaysia day on Sept 16 instead of celebrating Aug 31 which is historically the date of Malaya's independence.

Yesterday, MCA publicity chief Chai Kim Sen slammed Chong for his proposal, reminding him that Merdeka celebrations is for all Malaysians and the Kenyalang state should not be excluded.

"For your information, Malaya gained independence on Aug 31, 1957 from British, Sarawak gained self-governing status on Jul 22, 1963 from the British Protectorate, and North Borneo gained self-governing status on Aug 31, 1963," argued Abdul Aziz.

He said that we should set right the wrong celebration that this country has gone through all these years.

Ideally, he said that peninsula Malaysia should celebrate Aug 31 as the independence day of Malaya, Sarawak on July 22 and all celebrate Sept 16 as the national day of Malaysia.

"If the BN government wants to insist on Aug 31 as the national day of Malaysia, the next question to ask is then: Is Aug 31, 2016 the 53rd national day or 59th national day?

"No one can give an answer which is historically correct because of the simple reason that the nation Malaysia did not come into existence on Aug 31," he said.