Syed Saddiq speaking during the ceramah at Gala City food court here today. – Photo by Nur Shazreena Ali
KUCHING (Nov 16): Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has vowed that he will do all he can to ensure that Sarawak will gain more autonomy in education and healthcare matters if Pakatan Harapan (PH) wins in the 15th general election (GE15).
Speaking to The Borneo Post, Syed Saddiq said decentralisation in the two matters were necessary to ensure that the federation of Malaysia survives.
He also said the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement (MA63) will give a meaningful relationship between Sarawak and the federal government.
“Decentralisation in healthcare and education is important because I believe, at the end of the day, our Malaysian Federation can only be strong when we respect MA63 and allow for each region to experiment.
“Now, it is just about ensuring that there must be a great development and the development must come with policy changes, not just by one of the welfare system,” he said when met after a political talk with DAP candidate for Stampin, Chong Chieng Jen at Gala City food court here today.
On education, Syed Sadiq said he believed that Sarawak should be given autonomy in education where the state government can improve students’ performance in various skills.
“Look at what the President of China did to the Shanghai experiment which became successful then was replicated elsewhere.
“For example, I support when Sarawak wants to teach in English and make it a focus.
“And by setting up your own education syllabus formula, will enable Sarawak to try it, and if it works in Sarawak, maybe this we can apply the formula in other states,” he said, adding that a meaningful distribution of power and a fairer allocation of resources would ensure these regions can catch up with the developmental advancement in par with other states in the peninsula.
“I also believe that this is the engine of growth especially today because when the capital of Indonesia has moved and shifted to Kalimantan, both Borneo states have the rights to receive it.
“There’s a lot of great potential which we could get out of it,” he added.
While pointing out that Muda reflects Sarawak as it emphasised a lot on diversity, he said Sarawak’s model of embracing diversity should be nationalised.
“As a Malaysian myself, I also believe empowering the Borneo states actually empowers me as a Malaysian as well.
“Thus, I believe that Sarawak reflects what Malaysia could be when it comes to multi-ethnicity and multi religiosity where it is about moderation and personal belief,” he said.
When asked on the possibility for Muda to work with other coalitions after the polls, he said Muda is committed to work with PH.
“We (Muda) are very clear with our set our commitment to work together with Pakatan Harapan coalition and that will be our main focus.
“We want to work with a coalition that is based on values and principles, one which will focus on building Malaysia as a multiracial multi multi-religious, moderate and policy-centred country,” he said.