BINTULU, Oct 26, 2014: Sarawak DAP wants the federal
government to return 50% of all tax revenue generated and collected in Sarawak to
the State government as well as to give back 20% of oil and gas royalties as
compensation in lieu of oil and gas rights.
These are among the points raised in the "DAP 2014 Bintulu
Declaration: Towards Equal Partners" adopted at the Sarawak DAP Convention here
today.
The declaration stressed that asking the federal
government to return the 50% of all tax revenue and the 20% oil and gas
royalties is to empower the state with sufficient revenue for the planning and
development.
It said this is to enable Sarawak to be on par with
Malaya.
The other points in the declaration, which are directed
at the federal government, are:
- to call upon the federal government to respect the true
spirit of the formation of Malaysia that Malaysia is a secular state where
freedom of religion shall be upheld at all time.
-to ask the federal government to review the Ninth
Schedule of the Federal Constitution to devolve powers of education and health
care to Sarawak, as well as partially allowing Sarawak to have some autonomy
over its own police force.
-to create the position of Minister for Sarawak Affair
who shall have the final decision on all Federal matters in relation to or
affecting Sarawak.
-to change the present judiciary system whereby the Chief
Judge of Sabah and Sarawak shall be at par with the Chief Judge of Malaya, with
his/her own autonomous power in budgetary and administrative matters in
relation to the judiciary in Sabah and Sarawak.
The Sarawak DAP also called on the state government to
adhere to the principles of transparency, fairness and clean governance in
government administration by implementing
open tenders for all government projects, implementing public bidding and open
tender process for the sales and alienation of state lands to developers or
plantation companies and dividing logging licences into small areas of 500 –
1000ha each and awarding these licences through public bidding or open tender
process.
The other points directed at the state government are:
-to ensure transparency and accountability in the
Government administration to reduce corrupt practices and abuses by:
(a) introducing
the Freedom of Information Ordinance to grant access of information to the
public over all government decisions; and
(b) appointing
the Opposition State Assembly member as the Chairman of the Public Accounts
Committee (PAC) for more intense and unbiased supervision of government
agencies.
-to implement a fair and equitable land policy for all
by:
(a) guaranteeing the rights to renewal of
land leases upon expiry;
(b) protecting the land rights of the
natives of Sarawak through issuance of land titles to their Native Customary
Right (NCR) land created based on their culture, traditional living and ADAT;
and
(c) introducing the Land-to-the-Tiller
policy whereby the state government shall grant the rural folks 20 – 30 acres
of land per family and provide all financial assistance and expertise for them
to cultivate their land.
-to implement the “Home Ownership Scheme” by building
sufficient good quality and reasonably priced 3-bedroom housing flats for the
middle and low income earners and implement the “rent to own” policy.
-to reform the public transport system by the government
acquiring all public bus service companies in Kuching, Miri, Bintulu and Sibu
and thereafter to improve its regularity and service with a view to provide
free public bus services to the public in the first 5 years of its
implementation.
-to manage our natural environment and resources in a
sustainable manner so as to ensure that our future generations would continue
to benefit from it.
-to adopt an inclusive and diverse education system that
will meet the needs of our multi-cultural and multi-racial society by:
(a) funding
the vernacular schools;
(b) reviving
the mission schools with English as the medium of instruction;
(c) giving
official recognition to certificates issued by Examination Boards which are of
international standards; and
(d) awarding
scholarship based on meritocracy and principles of social justice.
-to restore local government elections to ensure
accountability and better service of the local government to the people.
-to set up a RM1 billion Dayak Endowment Fund to uplift
the education level and commercial activities of the Dayak communities, and
-to put in place the Independent Police Complaints and
Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) to ensure a professional, clean and efficient
police force to combat crimes and provide security to the people.
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