Soo shows newspaper clippings of STAR’s struggles to get July 22 declared a public holiday in 2013.
KUCHING: State Reform Party (STAR) claimed ‘victory’ even though all their 11 candidates lost their election deposits in the just-concluded state election.
Its president, Lina Soo, said in a press statement yesterday that it was a feat for the party to be able to put up 11 candidates when they had none in the last state election in 2011.
She said STAR could also claim ‘victory’ on three issues: getting July 22 declared as ‘Sarawak Day’, creating awareness about the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and initiating the move to regain Sarawak’s status as one of three sovereign states that make up the federation of Malaysia.
STAR is claiming credit for getting July 22 recognised as ‘Sarawak Day’.
Soo said STAR had initiated a campaign on May 1, 2013, to promote awareness that Sarawak was granted nominal self government by the United Kingdom on July 22, 1963.
During the last State Legislative Assembly (DUN) session in November 2015, she said, the buzz was ‘Malaysia Agreement 1963’ (MA63).
“Now all politicians know of MA63, unlike in the past. This is a result of our educational public talks on MA63 that started on April 27, 2014.”
Soo claimed Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s recent announcement to get Sarawak’s status restored as one of three sovereign states had STAR’s finger prints all over it.