Reform leader slams Adenan over rights motion u-turn

Lina Soo says voters may not forgive Chief Minister Adenan Satem for reneging on decision to move a motion in the Sarawak Assembly to reclaim Sarawak's rights.

KUCHING: Sarawak Reform Party (Reform) President Lina Soo is dismayed that Chief Minister Adenan Satem will not table a motion to reclaim Sarawak’s rights at the next sitting of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly which starts Monday.

“There is great disappointment at Adenan’s U-turn,” Soo told FMT regarding Adenan’s statement that the State BN would opt for “diplomacy rather than confrontation” after some successes in getting both Petronas and the Education Ministry to hire more Sarawakians.

Soo said the people of Sarawak, and of Sabah, too, had been eagerly anticipating the Sarawak Government’s proposed state assembly motion to “address and resolve the grievances done to us over 50 years of domination and exploitation” by the Federal Government.

She said this turn of events showed that a Sarawak BN-led government would “always fail the Sarawak people”.

On Wednesday, after chairing the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council meeting, Adenan told the media there was no longer a need for the motion after Prime Minister Najib Razak said in Sabah on Sunday that Putrajaya was ready to discuss any grievance over the Malaysia Agreement signed in 1963 with Sarawak and Sabah.

On October 23, Adenan had told the Parti Rakyat Sarawak triennial delegates conference in Bintulu that a motion would be tabled urging Putrajaya to observe Sarawak’s rights as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Inter-Government Committee Report (IGC) 1963 and the Cobbold Commission Report 1962.

Soo felt the decision to drop the motion was not completely unexpected as Putrajaya had no jurisdiction to deal with affairs concerning the Malaysia Agreement 1963 which is an international treaty signed between the governments of UK, Malaya, Sarawak , Sabah and Singapore.

“Najib will just put Sarawak’s demands into the Federal Government ice-box and cold storage,” said Soo.

Soo said the decision might cost BN some support in the next general election, widely expected to be held next year.

“From Sarawakians, and Sabahans, point of view, they have been played out by Barisan Nasional leaders.

“The BN took a ride on the MA63 tiger, on our people’s sentiments, and won a landslide victory in the recent Sarawak election as a result. Similarly, the reverse will happen in the coming 14th general election,” Soo predicted. -FMT