Voon (second right) speaks at the press conference. With him are Lue (second left), Thong (right) and Teo.
KUCHING (Nov 15): It is unlikely that Sarawak will be able to regain its rights if Pakatan Harapan (PH) forms the federal government and its chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is appointed as prime minister, said Voon Lee Shan.
The Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) candidate for Bandar Kuching doubts that the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president would be able to fight for what Sarawak wants.
“Anwar can be a good prime minister for Malaysia but I doubt he will be sincere enough to help Sarawak get what it wants.
“This is because when PH was the government for 22 months, the coalition did not fulfil its manifesto for Sarawak which included giving back the 20 per cent oil royalty and 50 per cent revenue to the state,” he told a press conference here today.
The Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president, who is contesting under the PSB ticket, pointed out that as Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president, Anwar could have easily instructed the PH government to fulfil what was promised in the manifesto.
“But this was not done during PH’s administration and furthermore, nothing was mentioned by Anwar in the last few days or in the coalition’s current manifesto that says that PH will give back Sarawak’s oil royalty and tax revenue,” he said, adding that Anwar should pursue this matter so that PH’s manifesto from the last general election could be fulfilled.
On a related matter, Voon questioned why the state Democratic Action Party (DAP) did not contest under the PH logo this election.
“This either shows that DAP has lost confidence in Anwar’s leadership or that the party knows that the people in Sarawak have no confidence in PH and therefore, no confidence that Anwar would restore the oil and gas rights to Sarawak.
“I do not know what type of game or strategy PH Sarawak is playing by not contesting under the coalition’s logo.
“Perhaps problems arose and Anwar has no confidence that DAP Sarawak is going to support him. Otherwise, the party would have used the PH logo in the election,” he said.
He urged DAP Sarawak to “resign or free themselves from PH” and join local parties to fight against the domination of Malaya political parties or to withdraw from contesting in the election.
“Let PSB, PBK and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) settle the score of differences with Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to determine who should represent the people of Sarawak in Parliament,” said Voon.
PBK is part of a tripartite collaboration with PSB and PBDS.
Also present at the press conference were PSB Stampin candidate Lue Cheng Hing and PBK’s Raymond Thong and Teo Kuang Kim.