Federal gov’t should not have taken over state’s powers

CM says it might have been alright before but Sarawakians are smarter now and have the confidence to govern the state themselves.

KUCHING: Sarawak’s rights are different from that of states in the peninsula and the power allocated to the state should not have been taken over by the federal government, said Chief Minister Adenan Satem.

He said his administration’s request was already in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, which provided full autonomy to the state government in specific areas.

He said in the early stages, Sarawak people might not have cared when the federal government took over the state’s autonomy, little by little, even the possibility of overlapping of jurisdiction.

“… but now people are smarter and they have the confidence to govern a state. We want the full autonomy to be returned to us, but this does not mean we want to get out of Malaysia,” he said according to a transcript taken from TV3’s “Soal Jawab” programme aired on Wednesday.

“We will forever remain as a sovereign state in the Malaysian Federation. What we want is a smooth state administration. Specific areas should be governed by the state, not fully governed by the federal government.

“… what we want is for particular areas to be administered by the state government. Perhaps we can do better than the federal government,” he added.

Two days ago, during the Malaysia Day celebration themed “Sehati Sejiwa” (One Heart, One Soul), Prime Minister Najib Razak explained more about the concept of empowerment which referred to some measures that would see the state government being given a bigger role in determining certain projects, particularly priority projects.

Najib’s explanation received positive response from Sabah and Sarawak, especially when Adenan will be leading the Sarawak Barisan Nasional in the coming state election, of which he has constantly been reminding the people, in order to obtain a mandate to lead the state for “another five years only”.

Another demand by Adenan, which has led to him being idolised by Sarawakians, is for the federal government to increase the oil and gas royalty payment from 5% to 20%.

“Five per cent is so outdated nowadays and it’s only appropriate for 40 to 50 years ago … Kuching and Kuala Lumpur, we have our ups and downs together but when Kuala Lumpur is happy, please do not forget us,” he said.

On harmony among the people in Sarawak, Adenan stressed that tolerance was vital, not only among people of the same race, but towards the other races as well.

“Until today, Sarawak is still instilling the culture of mutual respect. Do not assume that the Bumiputeras are only Malays and Muslims. We must remember that there are other (Bumiputera) communities such as the Iban and Melanau,” he said.

During the programme, Adenan also talked about Muslim teachers from Kelantan and Terengganu placed in the Kelabit and Kenyah areas.

“Many are dissatisfied and this has caused a misunderstanding. Many (of the teachers) who want to return to the peninsula, can do so, but on the condition that the vacancies be filled by local teachers first,” he said.

He also explained that the “orang Malaya” tag, referred by Sarawakians to people in the peninsula was not a humiliation, or triggered by any ulterior motive.

“The term has been used since a long time ago, before the formation of Malaysia. Sarawakians call them orang Malaya based on the original name of the Federation of Malaya or in short, Malaya.

“Don’t mind this, as it is not raised to create tension. It’s a tradition. After all, we sing the same national anthem, Negaraku. There is no point disputing this because we are all Malaysians,” Adenan said.

– BERNAMA