Sarawak opposition party backs DAP, says party will deliver promise of more autonomy

(MMO) – Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS Baru) believes DAP will deliver its promise to give more autonomy and more revenue to Sarawak and Sabah if the party and its allies in Pakatan Harapan (PH) were to win the next general election.

“I have no doubt that the party means what it pledges to do because its leaders have always been consistent on this autonomy issue,” PBDS Baru president Cobbold John Lusoi said today.

Responding to DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng’s offer extended to the two Borneo states at the party’s national convention yesterday, Lusoi said the DAP leaders understand and recognise the terms and conditions in the Malaysia Agreement under which the two Borneo states agreed to the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

But Sarawak Reform Party (REFORM) president Lina Soo said there is no big deal about Lim’s “new deal” for Sarawak and Sabah, but a mere lip service to offer more autonomy and revenue.

“The reason is simple because autonomy is in-built in Malaysia Agreement, so one can’t offer what is already in there,” she said, stressing that Lim has no authority or power to grant autonomy, and is not in any position to promise anything to Sarawak and Sabah.

On Lim’s proposal for a new federalism, Soo reminds that a new federalism would mean a new agreement and all partner signatories — the governments of Britain, Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore — will have to go back to the negotiation table in London to work out a new arrangement.

“If he is sincere, he should observe Sarawak and Sabah autonomous political rights by pulling his party out and let local parties fight Barisan National in the two states,” she said, adding that the DAP should respect the regional rights of the two states by confining itself to staying and contesting in the peninsula.