KUCHING: It is Putrajaya’s fault that Sarawakians are parochial in that they tenaciously hold on to the so-called ‘Sarawak mentality’.
“The present federal government has not been listening to the wishes of Sarawakians,” said Santubong Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic) in response to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks that ‘Sarawak for Sarawakians’ mentality is unhealthy.
He said when Sarawak and Sabah (then North Borneo) agreed to a proposal to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, one of the basic points of agreement was the Bornean entities wanted to be developed like Malaya, specifically the development of roads, water and electricity supplies, hospitals/clinics and schools.
He recalled that at that time Sarawak and Sabah were 30 years behind Malaya in every aspect of development.
“Sarawak and Sabah representatives were impressed with Malaya’s rural development after some visits to the various states. They thought that if they joined the proposed federation they would be assured of development.
“Now after 56 years we are still far behind in our rural development. In contrast, from 1981 to 2003 Malaya developed fast. However, most of the resources, especially petroleum revenue by the billions, were used to develop Malaya without little care of Sarawak,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Wan Junaidi said the prime minister should ask planning officers from the Prime Minister’s Office and Economic Planning Ministry to read the Hansard in Parliament how much Sarawak MPs talked and pleaded for funds and development which fell on deaf ears.
“Personally, I said many, many times in Parliament about the need for readjustment of annual budgeting by giving Sarawak more funds for development to close the gap of the development between Sarawak and Malaya.
“In the debates on Wawasan 2020 in 1993 I said that its success could only be judged if rural areas like Kapit, Kanowit, Batang Lupar, and Ulu Baram have adequate roads, water supplies, electricity, schools, hospitals, and other public amenities like what are taken for granted in KL, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and other big cities. These have all be ignored,” he said.
He then said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Datuk Seri Najib Razak from 2009 to 2019 tried to give us development, but billions of ringgit worth of projects, big and small, were either cancelled, delayed or ignored when Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the government in May 2018.
“These added to the already bitter and sour taste in our mouths. Please don’t blame Sarawakians. We are the victims of the whole arrangement.
“We are lucky to have our own resources and funds after having managed the state prudently. Now we are using our own means to develop Sarawak, taking over essential cancelled projects like bridges, roads, even school repair, so that we would not continue to be left behind in development. Are we to be blame for holding on to our ‘Sarawak mentality’?” he asked.
