KUCHING: As a veteran politician, it’s impossible that Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem does not know the difference between True Autonomy and Administrative Autonomy, said DAP Sarawak Chief Chong Chieng Jen. “Is Adenan putting up this show [on autonomy] with Najib merely for the coming state elections?
“Is he powerless to fight for True Autonomy for Sarawak?”
Adenan, charged Chong, was lumping the two together, hoping that the people will be “fooled” into believing that he’s fighting for True Autonomy for the State while in actual fact, he’s willing to accept Administrative Autonomy.
“Sarawakians want True Autonomy and not merely Administrative Autonomy.”
The True Autonomy that Sarawakians want was stated clearly in DAP Sarawak’s 2014 Bintulu Declaration, added Chong, i.e. autonomy in Education, Healthcare, Internal Security and Taxation.
Under the Administrative Autonomy that Adenan was willing to accept from the Federal Government, continued Chong, the Sarawak Government does not have the power to decide even on the annual allocation for education in the state. “It has to abide by whatever decision made by or allocation given by the Federal Government.
The only major change that Administrative Autonomy will bring about was a change of the cronies who will benefit from government contracts, claimed Chong.
Previously, he said, the main beneficiaries in Sarawak were the cronies of the Federal Ministers. “Under Administrative Autonomy for the state, the beneficiaries will be the cronies of the state ministers.”
The people of Sarawak, he lamented, will still be subject to the policies of the Federal Government. “For example, there would be no English-medium schools in Sarawak.”
The bottom line is that without the source of revenue at the Sarawak Government’s disposal, pointed out Chong, there cannot be True Autonomy for the state. “That’s why DAP Sarawak advocates for autonomy in Taxation, i.e. 20 per cent of oil and gas royalties and 50 per cent of all tax revenue collected from Sarawak to be given to the State Government.
“It’s only with sufficient revenue that Sarawak will have True Autonomy.”
Source from FMT News
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