KUCHING: Sarawak Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo urged the Sarawak government to go beyond financial autonomy and immigration autonomy. She told a press conference at Telang Usan Hotel here yesterday that the state should have autonomy in all matters except in defence and foreign relations. As a country (notwithstanding its position as part of Malaysia), Sarawak should require non Sarawakians to produce their passports when they enter the state.
“Right now, West Malaysians and Sabahans just fill the relevant forms. They don’t need to show their passports. We want to bring the old way back,” she said. She pointed out that a country had internal sovereignty and external sovereignty. “When we have powers we have sovereignty. The right to vote is the people’s sovereignty. As for international sovereignty only Malaysia has it.
“ We cannot operate an embassy in other countries because Sarawak is not an international entity.
We are a component of an internationally recognised country. The one that holds international sovereignty is the federal government,” she explained. Internally, though, certain laws and agreements have given us sovereignty over certain issues such as our oil and gas.
