Lau (seated centre), the spokesman for the S4S former volunteers for central region, wants to know the whereabouts of the original signature petition book, while Chua Cho Kang (seated right) and others look on.
SIBU: Former volunteers of Sarawak For Sarawakians (S4S) movement want to know the whereabouts of the original signature petition book containing about 270,000 signatures of Sarawakians, claiming that they were left in the dark for over a year.
As such, the group is giving the persons-in-charge of each S4S zone to respond within three days. The petition book was to demand the enactment of a Referendum Ordinance to safeguard the state’s rights.
Lau Lik Wan, who acted as spokesman for the central region group comprising ex-volunteers from Sibu, Sarikei, Kapit, Bintangor, Mukah and Selangau, stated this during a press conference here on Saturday night.
“We are worried that it may be misused by irresponsible individuals. The objective of the petition was to seek an enactment of a Referendum Ordinance to protect the rights of Sarawak and for the federal government to honour the Malaysia Agreement signed on Feb 23, 1963. The petition book cannot be used by any party to support their political agenda, personal or organisation use without consent of signers.
“People dared to go ahead and sign as it is used to demand the referendum act to safeguard the 18/20 points in Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he pointed out.
Lau said: “We hope that they can respond in three days; we need to know where the petition book is as members of the public, including friends and family members, are asking for the status of the book and where this book would be heading.
“Unfortunately, like them we also want to know the answer. We have been asking for the whereabouts of the book for the past one and-a-half years already and there was no response. They only showed the photographs taken at UN office in Malaysia and Chief Minister’s Office but there was no official letter on the receipt of the document.
“As former volunteers, we have the right to know because we do not want the signatures of Sarawakians to be misused by irresponsible individuals.”
He said the former volunteers from the central region were the first to sound out the issue, and ex-volunteers from southern and northern zones would follow suit when the three-day period is up.
Adding on, he said they would later form a group comprising people who are concerned about the whereabouts of the book. For a start, he said those in Kuching can contact Thomson Ngu at 016-894 7848 while those in Sibu and Miri will start such platform later.
Meanwhile, Lau said 30 volunteers went around Sibu to collect signatures previously. He said they had collected 65,000 signatures in the central region, 110,000 in southern zone and 90,000 in northern zone, bringing the total to nearly 270,000 signatures throughout Sarawak.