Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg
SIMUNJAN: The federal government has been told not to take things lightly with Sarawak when it comes to returning the state’s rights as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the pursuit for the return of rights under MA63 is intended to make Sarawak on par with Peninsular Malaysia in terms of development.
“Don’t try us Sarawakians. I am not afraid because I know that the state has her rights. For example, we do not want the revenues from our oil and gas to flow to Putrajaya alone, but they must come back to Sarawak through taxes and with that amount of taxes that we can collect, Sarawak is able to develop herself including the rural areas,” he said when launching Gedong Festival 2019 here yesterday.
At the same time, however, the chief minister stressed that the people should not mistake the Sarawak government’s move as meaning the state is contemplating exiting the Federation of Malaysia.
“Just because we in GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) give priority to the state of Sarawak, it doesn’t mean that we are exiting from Malaysia. Not at all, but we will be on par with Peninsular Malaysia,” he said.
Abang Johari reiterated that there are four core subject matters in MA63 which are non-negotiable. The four, according to him, are immigration autonomous power, rights to land under the Sarawak Land Code, protection of the state’s borders including the Continental Shelf, and rights on resources.
“During our discussion on MA63, I have told the (federal) leaders that there are four subjects matter which cannot be discussed or compromised.
“First is autonomy on immigration powers because that is the right of Sarawak. Second, our rights to our lands as according to the Sarawak Land Code; third is Sarawak borders cannot be changed, because these are our borders including our Continental Shelf, which is where our oil and gas come from.
“The last one is the rights on resources. These are non-negotiable because they are Sarawak’s rights,” he stressed.
He said during the tenure of the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, the former chief minister had always spoke on the need for Sarawak to take back her rights as enshrined under MA63.
“How can it be that our revenues from our oil and gas are all going to that side (Peninsular Malaysia)? We do not want Sarawakians to just watch as their revenues are taken away just like that.
“That was the reason why the late Tok Nan (Adenan) asked for 20 per cent royalty to come back to us.”
Abang Johari said in view of Pakatan Harapan’s failure to give the state 20 per cent royalty as promised in its election manifesto, the Sarawak government decided to exercise the state’s right to impose a sales tax on its oil and gas.
The tax will give the state RM3 billion in additional annual revenue which will go towards infrastructure development, he added.
Meanwhile, the chief minister conceded that Barisan Nasional’s (BN) loss in last year’s general election posed a great challenge in that the Sarawak government now needed to stand on its own feet.
“We (PBB, SUPP, PRS and PDP) never lost Sarawak (under BN). In fact, in the last general election, we won 19 out of 31 – more than half of the seats.
“In coming to the decision to leave BN and set up GPS, we decided that this time, we will stand on our own two feet. We knew what we had to do and, as the person who took over from Tok Nan, I will continue his work alongside the people of Sarawak,” he said.