Before you get excited about East Malaysia autonomy
(MMO) – The big news for Sarawakians earlier this week was the prime minister saying more autonomy is coming for the state. But it may not be what you think.
According to the prime minister, the federal and state governments are looking into streamlining administration and how to avoid duplication of responsibility.
“I agree with this idea as we notice there is duplication of many responsibilities leading to slow delivery to the people. We are currently identifying what type of empowerment that we can leave it to the state as they have a better view of things on the ground,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Already there is some disconnect with the autonomy that chief minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem had been talking about. On July 22, for example, he boldly stated that Sarawak did not partake in the formation of Malaysia only to have Britain’s colonial responsibilities over it handed over to the Federation of Malaya.
In May, he said constitutional provisions accord to Sarawak “a greater degree of financial, legislative and administrative autonomy not enjoyed by the other states in the Peninsula”, in a speech to the State Assembly.
It seemed the chief minister called for a different sort of autonomy — not only more independence on state administrative matters but also on financial and legislative fronts.
A telling shade to his remarks is his often-repeated point that Sarawak and Sabah are equal partners in the Malaysia federation on par with the Federation of Malaya as an entity.
In comparison the prime minister’s promise on August 10 seemed limited to administrative aspects, especially in government roles vis-a-vis “delivery to the people.”
So have the goal posts shifted? Perhaps. But they were not clearly defined in the first place.
