SUPP: Moving Forward
The party positively appears to be on the inclination to
move forward as indicated by recent events.
During the recent (November) SUPP Annual Delegates
Conference Party President Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, in his keynote address, said
that the focus of the party should be to gain financial independence and
increase the number of members to add up the current 109,000 SUPP members.
The party currently have 82 SUPP branches all over the
state and he advised every member to groom members both within and outside
party, be the best involved in ground work, as well as possessing political and
administrative skills.
Stressing on the coming 14th General Election, Dr Sim
reminded members they must unite and go to the ground to speak up on behalf of
the society.
Adding to his President’s advice, secretary-general Datuk
Sebastian Ting urged party members to not rest on their laurels even after
achieving positive results from the last 11th State Election in May, reminding
them that they will have to start preparing now as they may one day be its
leaders.
Ting reminded that they should recognise and acknowledge
that the people of Sarawak gave the Party another chance with their votes in
the last state election. This is clearly indicated when the party managed to
win back the four seats that were earlier under DAP namely Batu Kawah, Repok,
Meradong and Piasau.
The elected YBs must work even harder in making sure all
promises made during the campaign are fulfilled before the next (State)
Election in 2021. This time around, the people have given the party the trust
and confidence to represent them in DUN and we should seize this chance
seriously and must not let them down.
In order to move forward, the party should now look at
the pertinent issues that they should concentrate on.
The first one on the list should be Education – The
importance of English must be recognised as it is the international language
for communication, knowledge and for business.
The Chief Minister fully understands this and had decided that English
would be the second official language for Sarawak. In addition, the state
Government has set the target of having 90% of Sarawakian teachers in all
schools by the year 2018. SUPP is fully
supportive of these decisions.
The next issue the party should stress on is the coming
Parliamentary Elections. The Party has
always been allocated seven parliamentary seats, namely, Bandar Kuching (P195),
Stampin (P196), Serian (P199), Sarikei (P208), Lanang (P211), Sibu (P212) and
Miri (P219).
Based on the last Sarawak Election results and with the
present Party unity, the hard work of YBs and members, and the support by the
general public, the party should be looking forward to perform better than in
the previous PRU 13 where only one seat was won.
It is important that the party must have more and capable
representatives in the national platform to contribute in the law making and
administration of the Federation.
Another important responsibility will be to ensure future
laws or policies made by the Federal Government must be consistent with the
Malaysia Agreement 1963 and proper consultation must be sought with the Sarawak
Government all the times, especially when it involves Sarawak’s Special Rights.
Party members should perceive that this coming GE14 is
about asserting Sarawak’s status in Malaysia as equal partner to Malaya,
defending our nation from religious extremism and most importantly getting the
complete financial allocation for that we are entitled to as agreed in the
Malaysia Agreement.
In safeguarding the interest of Sarawak, the Party’s
fight does not end in Sarawak DUN only but to be fought in the national
platform as well.
One of the issues is concerning Sarawak’s status in
Malaysia. Sarawak’s status was downgraded because of the passing of a list of
Federal Constitution amendments named Act A354 in 1976. Then there was this introduction of Federal
Law Act 750: Territorial Sea Act 2012 that reduced Sarawak’s territorial waters
from 200 nautical miles to just 3 nautical miles measured from the low-water
line. This makes it difficult for
Sarawak to ask for more oil and gas royalty from PETRONAS.
Another issue of concern is to note that the recent
Budget 2017 only has enough allocation to repair and upgrade only 30 out of 183
most dilapidated schools in the state.
Sarawak cannot be poor because the state is blessed with
rich resources, oil, gas, timber and palm oil. Oil and gas are the state’s
wealth and should rightfully belong to the people of Sarawak.
Another concern that the party should be aware of is the effort
some political parties and religious extremists in Malaya wanting to introduce
the Hudud Law thus removing the country’s secular status. The party should
continue to be very firm and stand totally against the implementation of Hudud
Law.
With the Malaysia Agreement 1963, control over
immigration in Sarawak and can ban such religious extremists and influences
from entering the state. The Sarawak Government has been consistent in
exercising this absolute discretion. This is important that those extremists
should not enter Sarawak and disturb the peace, unity and harmony that the
state have been enjoying.
In order to continue to move forward, members are
reminded that they should believe in the three core values important to the
Party – these are Loyalty, Unity and Discipline.
SUPP had gone through a very difficult and challenging
time but with a higher sense of loyalty and unity among members, it will not
only assist in the winning of future elections, and get more support from the
people, but to come back stronger than before.- From SUPP News Portal- Nov 27, 2016
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