Chong said the Chinese, Indian and other races were natives as much as any other Sarawakian as they had reached the third generation of their stay in the state.

“Therefore, there should be no discrimination or distinction between one another,” he was reported to have said by the Borneo Post after the opening of the 19th Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting.

Following this, the Sarawak DAP chairman said he had written to the state assembly speaker on his proposed amendment to the Interpretation (Amendment) Bill 2022.

He said in the proposed amendment bill, 31 races had been proposed to be considered as natives of Sarawak in the Interpretation Ordinance.

He proposed that Clause 2 of the bill be amended by inserting a new line which includes these words, “Chinese, Indian or any race not stated herein and the person of which race is born in Sarawak and whose natural parents or either one of the natural parents is also born in Sarawak”.

The Interpretation (Amendment) Bill 2022 is expected to be tabled by assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali in the state assembly tomorrow.