KUCHING: Malayan leaders cannot simply enforce their ‘wish list’ on Sarawak without knowing the local laws.
They should get to know all these local rules and laws before they started talking and attempting to enforce their laws on the state, said Local Government and Housing Assistant Minister Datuk Dr Penguang Manggil (pic).
“This is so as not to infringe on the state’s rights,” he said, citing the state’s autonomy on matters pertaining to local authorities as one good example.
“We (Sarawak) have our own Local Authorities Ordinance, which governs the operations of local authorities, while in Malaya the local authorities are under the purview of the Local Government Act.
“The state’s autonomy on local authorities is one of the guarantees as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Malaysian Constitution,” he stressed when asked to comment proposals made by several Malayan leaders including some local Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders for Sarawak to restore local council’s election.
Penguang said first of all, local authorities under the MA63, is solely the state’s rights, adding, “We’re not obliged to follow what Malaya is doing”.
The assistant minister, however, said the federal government is obliged to provide the necessary funding for all government agencies listed under the federal or concurrent lists.
Penguang said another example of the lack of understanding on the part of the federal leaders was on the appointment of Ketua Kaum (village chieftains) where it was said that many Tuai Rumahs (TRs) were not paid allowances.
He reminded the Malayan leaders that only the TRs of those longhouses which had more than 20 doors (individual units) can be appointed as TR and be paid a monthly allowance of RM900.
“Those longhouses with less than 20 doors can however be registered with the Resident’s Office so that they can be given government grants or projects,” he said.
On the need to gazette or issue land titles under Section 18 of the Land Code for longhouse land, Penguang said two longhouses in his constituency of Marudi — Rh Collin, Sg Mallang, and Rh Chabu and Rh Anthony Ladi of Lepong Ajai Sg Liam — had been given such titles.
