SUPP is firm and consistent against Hudud Law

By Datuk Sebastian Ting,

Piasau state assemblyman

Hudad Law is a very sensitive and important issue to us all in Sarawak. We are very concerned and feeling very uncomfortable that a Private Member Bill proposed by PAS Party President was tabled in Parliament yesterday. It was deferred to next session.

Things have changed and some people who voted for the opposition including DAP are now looking at DAP to see whether they would be making an apology. I doubt they would. - Datuk Sebastian Ting

SUPP is very firm and consistent. We had said that many times that we are totally against the implementation of Hudud Law in Malaysia, particularly in Sarawak. SUPP and Sarawak BN strongly opposed and had indeed instructed their respective Members of Parliament to oppose and vote against the proposed amendment of the Shariah  Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1956, also known as Act 355. The proposed amendment is against the provisions of the Federal Constitution and against the safeguards provided for in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

I vividly remember that the election campaign during the PRU 13 held on 5th of May 2013 where Pakatan Rakyat was a united opposition of which DAP was a partner. DAP leaders during the

ceramahs assured and guaranteed that Hudud Law would never be implemented as DAP would be strong enough to stop PAS from implementing this Hudud Law.

Things have changed and some people who voted for the opposition including DAP are now looking at DAP to see whether they would be making an apology. I doubt they would.

I had been honoured to witness two former leaders of DAP namely former YB Datuk Wong Sing Nan and the late former YB Wong Ho Leng during those years when they were opposition leaders in this august House.

They were well mannered and soft but firmed in their arguments. They certainly did not oppose simply because they had to oppose. Opposing for the sake of Opposing was never their intention. Because of this, these two former leaders of DAP were well respected. Decorum in this august House then seemed to be better.

 SUPP's new leadership and our YBs will continue to be humble and will continue to be on the ground and be with the people. We will continue our movement to Safeguard Sarawak and fight for

Sarawak’s best interest at all times.

We pledge not to disappoint the trust and confidence given to us by the people who gave us their votes and who had also prayed for us. We thank you all sincerely.

I want to take this opportunity to address another issue of great importance to our nation. I read with concern about the planned boycott of the football match between Malaysia and Myanmar

because of the Rohingya issue.

We must always be mindful that Politics and Sports must never mix. Have we forgotten the lesson of the 1980 Olympic boycott?

EDUCATION

Education is always very important to Sarawak and it has always been a subject for discussion. For decades the directions and policies kept changing whenever a new Minister of Education was appointed.

This is far from satisfactory. The medium of instruction was changed from English to Bahasa Malaysia some 40 years ago based on nationalistic sentiments.

 But the manner it was done had resulted in the drop of the standard in English to the extent that a significant portion of our graduates was not proficient in the English language and the graduates were unemployable in the global world including local market.

 We all know the importance of English as it is the international language for communication, for all aspects of knowledge, for business and especially important for Science, Technical, Engineering

and Mathematics (also known as STEM).

Our Chief Minister fully understands this and had decided that English would be the second official language for Sarawak. English would be used as a medium of instruction to teach in all schools in Sarawak.

I recognise and acknowledge the importance of Bahasa Malaysia as a national language. Both Bahasa Malaysia and English can indeed progress together and our students are smart enough to master an extra language with ease.

 I am pleased also to note that in the Budget 2017 the government is also highlighting the serious issues on shortage of teachers as well as focusing on developing excellent teachers. Hence, we must be focused to achieve 90% of our teachers in all our schools to be locals, by year 2018.

It is without doubt that we need all of our Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG) in Sarawak continue to operate and the call by our Chief Minister to halt the conversion of 2 IPG into vocational colleges need to be supported by all members of the august House.

Yes, we need to have more vocational colleges or polytechnics to enlarge the local skilled workforce but these should be in addition to the IPGs and not at their expense. Nov 25, 2016.