Adenan: BN risks losing in GE if autonomy promises not met
Chief Minister Adenan Satem says both Federal and Sarawak BN have to deliver on autonomy promises before the next GE.
Adenan, who is state BN chief, said discussions were in the second phase, a legal negotiation led by a committee under Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri.
The Sarawak BN has promised Sarawakians that it would, among other things, raise the state’s share of oil revenue from the current 5 per cent to 20 per cent.
“We are not happy. I can tell you we are not happy, with the present arrangement,” Adenan told party members during a Hari Raya Puasa appreciation dinner in Kuching on Thursday night.
“I told the Prime Minister himself, I do not want, in the coming General Election, to be seen defending the Federal Government if they do not concede, if they do not give us concessions on our requests.”
In the event that the process does not succeed, he said, he could not guarantee a BN victory as the Opposition would take it up.
“So there must be results before the coming General Election to show the people that we mean business, et cetera, et cetra,” Adenan said.
The next GE has to be held not later than August 2018.
Adenan pointed to a joint resolution, passed unanimously in the state assembly in 2014, seeking for the state’s powers to be reverted back to the 1963 agreement Sarawak made with Malaya, Sabah, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
He said the resolution was supported by a “groundswell of feeling among all Sarawakians of all colours” for the devolution of Federal power.
“And that we are not a state within Malaysia, and that we are party to the formation of Malaysia. There is a strong feeling, and one of the reasons we won is that we are seen by the people of Sarawak as championing this cause,” Adenan said.
“And now they want to see the results. As a matter of fact, we have raised the matter with the Prime Minister. He is open-minded and has helped set up a committee headed by the Federal Attorney-General and we are represented by the State Attorney-General as there are many laws to be dealt with.”
Adenan, however, said he did not support any move to secede.
“We will not secede from Malaysia. No. We will not. We will pursue only the matters which are within the Constitution which have been neglected either by negligence or ignorance, with all due respect to some of our predecessors,” he said.
Adenan added that the Malaysian economy was “not doing very well”.
“I expect the price of oil to go up a little bit. Not in the hundreds or more. Maybe fifty or sixty (US dollars). That is enough. And our share will be increased.”
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Sarawak BN won 72 of 82 seats in the May 8 state elections. The state has 31 MPs, six of whom are from the Opposition.