Dayak and S’wak sidelined again under Budget 2019

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Cobbold John

KUCHING: The Dayak community and Sarawak itself has been sidelined again under Budget 2019 as there were no increases made in the allocation to help the state close its development gap with Peninsular Malaysia, said Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDSB) president Cobbold John.

Referring to the Budget 2019 tabled by Federal Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng on Friday, John proposed that RM1 billion should be allocated to Sabah and Sarawak each for rural development.

According to the press statement, he also said that the budget did not include allocation specifically for Dayak and the recognition of the Dayak race in Malaysia.

“The Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government should have made a significant allocation for Dayak on rural transformation, technical skills development and most importantly on education field as education is the best investment towards developing human capital,” he said.

He further said that grants should be allocated to Dayak-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations in Sarawak to empower the community programmes.

Being one of the founding regions of the federation of Malaysia, he added that Sarawak’s status and rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 need to be restored to its origin state in order to obtain equal allocations for developments.

Besides this, he added Majlis Adat Bumiputera should be replaced with Majlis Adat Istiadat Dayak while Native Court should be replaced with Dayak Court.

“These will make them at par with the Civil Court and Syariah Court in strengthening the institution in Sarawak,” he said.

To sum up, he said that the new government should reinstate Sarawak status as a constituent state, restoring the autonomous rights of Sarawak over oil and gas, proper budget allocation for the information and technology (IT) and internet development in rural areas throughout Sarawak and rotation of the prime minister position between Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

He also said that Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) will need to be mobilized to settle the stateless issue in the rural areas that was left unfulfilled by the past Barisan National administration.

“Sarawak government and also all Sarawakians now has to take the necessary actions to ensure that Sarawak autonomy is rightfully restored as how it was spelled out in MA63,’” he urged.