Najib accommodative, good to Sarawak — Sharifah Hasidah

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Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazalinl

KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has always been accommodative and good towards Sarawak, said Assistant Minister for Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.

She said Najib had been very open and had agreed to open the door for further discussions and had said rather clearly that he would return to Sarawak its rights that had been taken away.

She further said that only the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg representing the state Barisan Nasional (BN) can negotiate on the devolution of powers from the federal government to the state government and not any member of the opposition.

“In our quest for devolution of powers, the Chief Minister (together with the high level task force agreed by the Prime Minister (Najib) at the just concluded Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Convention) will negotiate and discuss matters of devolution of powers from the federal to the state government and taking back our rights within the spirit of the BN and within the context of Malaysia. We will continue to fight for our rights and the best possible way is through negotiations and talks. This will take time but we will continue to push and be persistent, albeit in a diplomatic manner,” she said.

“In as far as devolution of powers is concerned, administratively we have succeeded in getting back our powers. In most matters now, the state government is consulted and some powers are given back fully to the state already,” Sharifah Hasidah pointed out.

She stressed that there are already several successes in terms of administrative devolutions.

“On the sea territory and boundaries and oil and gas right, these are issues that we will pursue and this will take time. We are not saying we can get all these now, because these will involve many parties but talks are moving in the right direction,” she said.

On an issue being debated on social media now, Sharifah Hasidah said the Chief Minister was not praising the Prime Minister but was only stating the facts.

“Based on facts, the present Prime Minister (Najib) in his tenure as PM has visited Sarawak 59 times. He has been all over Sarawak and has approved many projects all over Sarawak – like Batang Lupar bridge and Sadong bridge on top of the Pan Borneo Highway, costing in the billions of ringgit. He also has approved the request that the Bakun Dam be given back to Sarawak.

“He (Najib) is a prime minister who is close to Sarawak,” Sharifah Hasidah said.

On Sunday, Parti Keadilan Rakyat Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How – made a statement against Abang Johari by asking the latter not to praise Najib just yet.

“The promise by Najib that the power and the rights of the people in Sarawak taken away ‘by design or inadvertently’ will be returned to Sarawak has turned stale. It has gone backward because the Prime Minister has a new promise that a high-level committee at the federal level would be established to negotiate with Sarawak on outstanding rights issues under the MA63. The ship is still in the dock, at Putrajaya,” said See, who is also state PKR vice chairman.

See said Najib should not point fingers at others for the wrongs of the federal government taking away Sarawak’s rights over the last 55 years.

See also referred to the government’s motion on Sarawak’s rights, including the seeking of amendment to Territorial Sea Act 2012, which was unanimously passed by the Sarawak Legislative Assembly in 2015.

On Saturday at the PBB Convention, Abang Johari said Najib had done a lot for Sarawak and that Sarawakians should be grateful for it and return the favour.

Then Najib, in his speech at the same event, gave his assurance that he is sincere when it comes to returning what rightly belongs to the people of Sarawak.

To this, Sharifah Hasidah said yesterday: “The Malaysia Agreement 1963 negotiations will be handled well by the Chief Minister and the state and federal governments – steadily and surely.”