Chong dares Foo to get slot in MA63 Consultative Committee

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PAKATAN Harapan (PH) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen has challenged Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth secretary Milton Foo to ‘fight for a slot’ in the Sarawak Consultative Committee on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

The Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs said not only had the PH federal government set up the Steering Committee and Technical Committee on MA63, the Sarawak government now had its own Consultative Committee on the same matter.

According to Chong, the slot for SUPP in the Consultative Committee is filled by the party’s secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting.

“If Milton Foo has limited knowledge on MA63 and wants to learn more, he can fight for the slot and replace Sebastian Ting in the Consultative Committee.

“I am not in the Steering Committee but I’m with the Technical Committee. I will bring up issues in the Technical Committee in Parliament,” he said when met by journalists at the State Legislative Assembly Complex here yesterday.

He was prompted for comments on Foo’s recent challenge to him to an open debate to deliberate issues related to MA63.

Chong, who is Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, said: “If he (Foo) wants to debate, he can replace Sebastian Ting and represent SUPP to speak up in the Consultative Committee.”

With Chong was Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei, who said it is pointless to go for a debate when Chong and Foo share a similar stance — which is fighting for the autonomous rights of Sarawak.

“If they are of different opinions, we can then talk about a debate. But if your stance is the same, why debate?”

Wong, who is national Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth vice chairman, said Foo should make his stance clear if the latter was talking about autonomy in healthcare and education for Sarawak.

The DAP leader said Chong had been firm in his stance ever since the Bintulu Declaration 2014.

“What we had in 2014 in the Bintulu Declaration goes beyond MA63, which does not grant autonomy in healthcare and education for Sarawak,” added Wong.