KUCHING: Only the people of Sarawak are eligible to participate in the state’s politics.
The people are more mature, more aware of their rights, and for that reason, politicians from Malaya should not have any part in the local political scene, Sarawak Baru suggested yesterday.
To allow political parties from Malaya including DAP, PKR, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), PAS and Gerakan, the local political scene may eventually see Umno entering as well, it said.
Should this happen, Sarawak could be overwhelmed in no time, said Sarawak Baru, a loose pact of state-based opposition parties comprising State Reformed Party (Star), Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) and Sarawak Workers’ Party (SWP).
“Once that happens, the people of Sarawak who have been living in harmony would be disturbed. The huge population size in Malaya will simply flood over to Sarawak.
“All local laws, including our control immigration and the teaching of English in schools, including the teaching of vernacular dialects would be under threat. Local customs and practices including the present harmony among, and cherished by the people may be replaced by something foreign, and maybe disharmonious,” Sarawak Baru lamented at a joint press conference yesterday.
Sarawak Baru said all these must be prevented from coming to the shores of Sarawak, adding: “This can only be done by keeping away all of the Malaya-based political parties from participating in the local political scene”.
They cited the case when Singapore was still part of Malaysia where there was a kind of gentleman’s agreement between PAP and Umno, whereby Umno did not participate in the General Elections in Singapore, and neither did PAP contest in any constituency in Malaya.
On an unrelated issue, Sarawak Baru said the state should not be asked to wait until its federal loan had been repaid in full before the development efforts may start.
It expressed dismay with the statement by Federal Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng that development efforts in Sarawak could be kept in abeyance until its debts with the federal government had been settled.
