Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen’s special assistant, Kelvin Yii, has questioned if Sarawakians must be “beggars” and subservient to Putrajaya to regain their rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Yii was responding to SUPP president Dr Sim Kui Hian, who told a South Hawkers Traders Association dinner in Kuching last Sunday that the peninsula would continue to rule Malaysia no matter what, because of its larger population.

“Sim’s statement clearly reveals the intention of the BN government that the rights of Sarawakians will only be respected if BN’s conditions are met.

“Is this not a form of ‘political blackmail’ by those currently holding the reins of power?

“Our rights, to begin with, are rightfully ours. They should not be dangled in front of the people as bait for their own political gains,” Yii told Malaysiakini.

He said it was the Sarawak BN government that willingly signed away the rights of the state in the first place, but is now claiming to be the only one that can wrest it back.

He added that this “beggar’s stance” was especially ironic, given Sarawak BN’s overwhelming majority in the state legislative assembly.

Sarawak BN, under the leadership of the late chief minister Adenan Satem, won 72 of the 82 seats contested in the 2016 state election.

'Nothing was done to get autonomy back'

“Is this whopping success not enough to get back the rights of the people of Sarawak?

“Little or nothing has been done in getting back our autonomy since the state election. Even the 20 percent oil royalty that was passed in the state assembly in 2014 is nowhere to be seen,” Yii said.

He also pointed out that despite Sarawak BN returning many seats to the ruling coalition in the last general election, and having a number of ministers in the cabinet, it remained in “kowtow mode” to Putrajaya.

This is also evident, he added, in the relatively little opposition to PAS’ proposal to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, and the implementation of the tourism tax.

“Thus, can we risk giving back greater power to BN in view of what it has done, or not done in the past, and the little the BN has done now, even with such overwhelming support?

“The difference between BN and Pakatan Harapan is that the BN needs support to ‘negotiate’, but for us, we have already ‘negotiated’ and Sarawak will get back its rights and autonomous powers if we win federal power,” Yii added.