S4S: Don’t sign for the wrong group

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Tan (right) and Peter show the petition booklet at the press conference.

Tan (right) and Peter show the petition booklet at the press conference.

KUCHING: The Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) movement, which is running its three-month petition drive for the state government to enact a Referendum Act aimed at safeguarding the rights of Sarawak, has cautioned the general public from signing the petitions with the wrong group.

According to its spokesperson KC Tan, other groups were also carrying out their own self-motivated petitions – a situation that had been creating confusion among the public.

“When they (other groups) go out to collect petitions, the public will be confused as to who they are and what their signatures are for,” Tan told a press conference yesterday.

He said S4S volunteers who were collecting signatures from the public would show the official S4S petition identification card and provide all the information with regard to the petition.

The volunteers would also be carrying the official petition booklets and flyers to explain the need for Sarawak to have the Referendum Act in three languages – Bahasa Melayu, English and Iban.

“The volunteers have to make sure that the person who signs fully understands what is being petitioned,” he said.

Since Sept 16, S4S volunteers have managed to collect around 66,000 signatures from the targeted 300,000 needed by Dec 31.

“We need 300,000 signatures as it will make about 10 per cent of our state’s 2.6 million-population, in making the petition valid. Once the petitions have been compiled, it will be submitted to the state government,” Tan added.

Another S4S member Peter John Jaban said the movement had also received complaints from volunteers in Serian, saying that they were harassed by the men in blue while conducting the drive.

“It is sad to learn that police are abusing their powers by scaring our volunteers,” said Peter, a human rights activist.

He also said their volunteers were working day and night to collect the signatures across the state and had been receiving good response from those in the urban and sub-urban areas. The S4S movement, he added, would also be expanding the petition to rural Sarawak sometime next week.