By Abdul Aziz Isa
I found it utterly selfish and ridiculous for Chief
Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg to call on Sarawakians to rally
behind him despite knowing that he had yet to prove anything to the public.
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| Abdul Aziz Isa |
He made this call during Lan Berambeh programme in Kuala
Lumpur for Sarawakians residing and working in Malaya.
Since taking over the state’s administration from the
late Tan Sri Adenan Satem for the past 10 months, Abg Jo had come up with a lot of populist
ideas for the state. Many considered his ideas as merely “hot air” and doubted
his capability to fulfil his populist promises.
Firstly, he had already misled the public regarding the
establishment of a state-owned petroleum company called Petroleum Sarawak
Berhad (Petros).
The public were made to believe that Petros is an
independent petroleum company. The truth is, Petros is neither equal to nor
independent of Petronas.
It means that Petros doesn’t have the same status as
Petronas. In fact, it is just another secondary company that is under the
purview of Petronas.
The Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 makes provision
in matters of exploration and exploitation of petroleum whether onshore or
offshore for Petronas.
Moreover, it provides Petronas for the control of downstream
activities and development relating to petroleum and its products.
It also gives
Petronas the entire ownership, exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges
of exploring, exploiting, winning and obtaining petroleum whether onshore or
offshore in Malaysia.
Thus, in order to make Petros equal to and independent of
Petronas, Abg Jo should be bold enough to urge Prime Minister Najib Razak to
amend the PDA 1974.
Secondly, it is the issue of appointment Petros' Board of
Directors (BoD). His announcement on Petros' BoD is a clear-cut case of racial
imbalance and discrimination towards the Dayaks in the state.
Non-Muslim Dayaks were never prioritised in the minds of
the state government for Petros.
It is a well-known
fact that the Dayaks have always been narginalised and treated as second-class citizens and have
been systematically discriminated against by the Sarawak BN government led by
PBB.
This racial imbalance in Petros shows that Abang Johari
is slowly following his Umno counterpart by prioritising only one race, that is
the Malays.
As an important stakeholder, the non-Muslim Dayaks have a
direct interest to be involved in Petros' BoD.
This is because we want to see direct participation from
qualified and capable non-Muslim Dayaks in Petros' BoD.
We have seen how the Dayaks have been sidelined in major
appointments in the government sector, government-linked companies and
statutory bodies.
However, after almost two months of making the unpopular
announcement, Abg Jo has yet to name at least one non-Muslim Dayak to sit in
the BoD.
Thirdly, Abg Jo has promised to introduce green
technology for its Light Railway Transit (LRT) project to connect Kuching,
Samarahan and Serian divisions.
Many have seen this idea as merely rhetoric. Undoubtedly,
it is not wrong for Abg Jo to be very ambitious on the LRT matter but it raises
one question whether our state government have the fund in building the LRT
project?
The netizens think it is unrealistic for Abg Jo to
introduce LRT in Sarawak. This is because he has failed to address the poor
road conditions in the rural areas.
Instead of introducing LRT, he should allocate fund to
build bridges, upgrade rural roads, widening urban roads as well as improving
public transportation in the state.
Thus, my humble advice to him is that he should comply
with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to predicate on fulfilling innate human needs
as priority.
Fourthly, the failure of the state government to resolve
issues pertaining to “pemakai menoa” (territorial domain) and “pulau galau”
(communal forest reserves) also popularly known as PMPG.
Despite having four-fifth majority in the Sarawak State
Legislative Assembly, Sarawak BN government failed to recognise PMPG as native customary
rights. With a strong mandate given
by the people, Sarawak BN could easily recognise PMPG as
NCR by amending the Sarawak Land Code 1958, Tusun Tunggu (Codified Customary
Laws) and Adat Iban 1993.
On 20th December 2016, the Federal Court ruled that there
was no legislation in Sarawak that gave the force of law to the Dayaks to claim
customary rights over virgin forests surrounding their longhouses.
Thus, in order for PMPG to be recognised under the law,
the State Legislative Assembly must first expressly repeal the Sarawak Land
Code 1958, Tusun Tunggu (Codified Customary Laws) and Adat Iban 1993. To date,
he and his BN colleagues lack the political will to do so.
And lastly, Abg Jo seems to be less vocal and aggressive
in reclaiming Sarawakian rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 as compared
to the late Adenan Satem.
What has happened
to the talk in reclaiming 20% oil royalty from the federal government?
Abg Jo focuses too much on his populist ideas on Petros, LRT,
Digital Village and Development Bank of Sarawak (DBoS) but less on Sarawak's
rights.
Is he not daring
enough to negotiate on Sarawak's rights with the federal government led by
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak?
Does he know that he will never be successful in reclaiming
our rights under the BN logo?
In my opinion, I dont think he has the courage to fight
for our rights in front of his boss in Putrajaya.
As such, I urge the people of Sarawak to stand by our
guided principles that is to protect our beloved state and to fight for our
rights and not to stand by Abg Jo who has yet to show results of his populist
ideas.
And the end of the day, Abg Jo will definitely bow to his
UMNO master in Putrajaya.
Note: Abdul Aziz
Isa is a special assistant to Pakatan Harapan Sarawak Chairman Chong Chieng Jen
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