David Wong
KUCHING: An opposition member of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly has accused Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leaders and elected representatives of playing the blame game and supposedly washing their hands of the state’s current state of affairs.
Pelawan assemblyman David Wong said the GPS backbenchers have talked much about the need for infrastructure, the lack of federal funding, and Sarawak’s demand for the 20% oil royalty among others but they had supported the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and were part of the BN family until it lost power in 2018.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmaker pointed out that the dilapidated schools, the sorry state of conditions of the clinics and hospitals and the poor infrastructures are the “legacy” they left behind.
He said the “selling off” of Sarawak’s rights under the Petroleum Development Act Bill in 1974, the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution that made Sarawak and Sabah one of the 13 states in Malaysia instead of one of the three territories, and the passing of Territorial Sea Act 2012 and the National Security Act 2016 all happened with BN’s support.
“The BN has never revised the special grants under Article 112 D of the Federal Constitution since 1969 and yet the PH (Pakatan Harapan) government through (federal) Budget 2020 has increased the grant from RM16 million to RM32 million and further increased it to RM64 million from 2024.
“But all of you, especially the SUPP, go all out to have a field day to say the PH government has not been fair to Sarawak, what a hypocrite!” he said, attacking the Sarawak United People’s Party which is a member of GPS.
Wong said GPS can’t wash their hands clean even though they have left the BN because they were part of the BN regime that governed Malaysia since the formation of BN in the 70s.
“How can they put the blame on the PH federal government who has only come to power in May 2018?,” he added.