By Simon Peter
KUCHING, June 6, 2014: Veteran politician Adenan Satem,
who became Sarawak's fifth chief minister last Feb 28, is a man full of
confidence and is taking one step at a time.
So far, Sarawakians, generally, have accepted him taking over the helm from the
chief minister of 33 years Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is now Sarawak's 6th
post-Merdeka Governor.
Even the Opposition politicians come to "like"
him.
One reason is that Adenan is perceived to be not corrupt
and secondly, he is seen to be moderate in his views and is very protective
of Sarawak's rights.
At a press conference to make his 100 days in office
today, Adenan joked with reporters and was smiling a lot.
"I am still adjusting myself to the position...to
being addressed as CM....it will take time," he said.
"I felt great
(as chief minister) and what is my achievement in 100 days, it is for you to
decide," he replied when a senior reporter asked him how he felt after 100
days in office.
"The best thing is that there was a smooth power
transition between former chief minister and me, and many have shown their
support for me, even the opposition paid a courtesy call on me.
“100 days' just too short to achieve something big, give
me more time. When I took over I saw the policy of the previous government. It
is alright, it is forward looking. Why should I change? We will continue with
what we are doing,"
“I might have some ideas of my own, but that can wait.
Let’s continue what we have now, which is as I always say, when you are doing a
good thing, don’t change for the sake of changing... if it is good, keep
it," he said.
Adenan said his biggest challenge is the political
problem facing the state BN component parties – the bickering between SPDP,
SUPP and TERAS, which he said needed some time to resolved.
“It will be most likely be settled in the next two years.
So we are heading towards that direction. The main thing is to have political
stability in the state, the rest will follow,” he said.
Adenan said his vision of Sarawak is a progressive,
vibrant and harmonious state, which coincided with the 1Malaysia concept -
people of different ethnic groups, beliefs, traditions and cultures living
together peacefully.
Despite problems that needed resolving, Adenan is
confident that Sarawak will be able to achieve a high income and developed
state status by the 2020, with full support from the federal government.
For that matter, he explained Sarawak is on track to
become a high income state by 2020 with the support from the Federal
Government.
"I think we are on the way there, we can reach the
target," he said, adding that one of the biggest challenge is to narrow
the income gap between those in urban and rural areas while acknowledging there
are still pockets of poverty.
"Our poverty level compared with 20-30 years has
been very much reduced but the challenge is always there in bridging the divide
between the rural poor and the prosperous urbanites.
"The reason for this is the lack of opportunities in
rural areas. There was a time, about 30-40 years ago, our rural-urban
population ratio was 70:30 but now it is almost 50:50.
"We cannot blame the people for the disparity. We must
close that gap by putting focus on rural development. Sarawak is a huge state,
more than 5,000 longhouses and villages. We still lack infrastructure, emphasis
is on that. We are going to create more nucleus areas, and promote more rural
growth centres in the effort to reduce rural-urban migration," he said.
On oil and gas, he said he is happy that the Federal
Government is open to the state's request for more oil and gas royalties -
where the state has requested for 20 percent royalty which was unanimously
adopted in the state assembly sitting last month.
However, he explained the state is open to suggestion
that some of the increases to be given in terms of equity such as five percent
for gas and another 10 percent for oil.
He said this is due to the fact that there are new areas
of development related to the new gas field where the higher royalty could be
given in terms of equity.
"As long as the amount is the same, it does not
matter to us," he said.
He said he will continue to push for an increase in oil
revenue for the state.
He said the increase, if approved, will be over and above
the usual development expenditure.
"It is not as if we give with the right hand and
pull back with the left...it is not like that," he pointed out.
On a positive note, he said Prime Minister Najib Razak has
expressed the Federal government's willingness to listen and talk about the
request although the form in which it will be given out have yet to be
determined.
It was reported that it could be an increase in oil
royalties or allocations directly transferred into the state accounts.
Whether equities in Petronas or royalties or even
dividends, Adenan said the most important issue is to ensure increase in
Sarawak's stake in the oil and gas industry; revenue from the state's O&G
industry and open economic opportunities for Sarawakians to be directly
involved in the industry.
He said negotiations with the Federation government can
be successful as both the state and federal governments are under Barisan
Nasional's rule.
“Because the federal is BN, state is also BN, I think we
can sort things out. If the state government is from the Opposition, I don’t
think the federal government will entertain (the request) at all," he
said.
Adenan was asked extensively on oil royalties,
irrefutably one of his greater achievements so far for bringing up the issue
with the Federal government.
The Sarawak state assembly sitting in May approved a
special motion to seek royalties from the state’s oil and gas revenue to be
increased from 5% to 20%.
Adenan had brought it up personally with Najib in Miri
recently.
He also spoke of Sarawak being free from racial and
religious extremists and he does not want those from Malaya to come and cause
trouble in Sarawak.
"We don't need trouble-makers to come to our shore,
whoever they are and of all colours," he stressed.
He said racism and religious intolerance are “not in
character with the people of Sarawak”.
“We have lived harmoniously all these many years and it
is my responsibility to see that we, people of all races and culture, continue
to live harmoniously together.
“May 13 never happened here. As far as Sarawak is
concerned, May 13 (race riots in 1969) was a distant thunder on the other side
of the hill,” he recalled.
Although he did not name names, he was obviously
referring to Perkasa and Isma leaders who were reported to have uttered
sensitive racial and religious statements in Malaya.
He said he will not hesitate to use the State's
Immigration powers to stop those "fanatics and extremists" from
coming to Sarawak.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment