KUCHING: State Reform Party Sarawak (STAR) president Lina Soo said it is not rocket science that Tan Sri Datuk Dr Kamal Salih is the new chairman of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) board of directors (BOD).
She said any Sarawakian worth his salt will know that this is yet another blatant attempt at Malayanising Sarawak in breach of the Borneonisation assurance that was fundamental to the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
“What is even more amazing is that immediate past chairman Tan Sri Datuk Panglima Sulong Matjeraie had his three-year tenure terminated halfway through to fit in with Kamal’s new appointment. Kamal will serve for a term of three years,” she said.
She said moreover, the Sarawak government was not even consulted or notified over the replacement.
“I believe there are capable and academically qualified Sarawakians who are competent to be Unimas BOD chairman even if Sulong were to complete the three-year service as scheduled,” she said.
Although she is impressed and has high esteem for Kamal’s academic qualifications and experience, she wondered why he must come to Sarawak when there are so many universities in Malaya.
“To show the federal government that the Sarawak government still exists, I propose the state government invoke its immigration autonomous power not to allow entry into Sarawak for Kamal until the federal government justifies why a Sarawakian must make way for a Malayan to be the BOD chairman for a university here,” she said.
She pointed Dr Kamal’s appointment to Sarawak went against the very grain of Borneonisation which was promised to Sarawak 57 years ago. “The state government must be firm in protecting state rights within the legitimacy of the Inter-Governmental Report and Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” she stressed.
