KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg hope the new federal government will continue to show its concern to the wishes of the people of Sarawak.
Thanking the previous Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, he said over the past 17 months, the top leadership of the previous government had shown concern for the dreams of Sarawakians who wanted to enjoy the state’s resources even though they had no qualms about sharing part of the resources for the development of the country as a whole.
“I, like other Sarawakians, also want to see the rights and privileges of Sarawak as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Constitution be respected by the federal government and enforced,” he said during the hybrid National Day 2021 celebration held at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex tonight.
He hoped the new leadership would continue to show concern to the wishes of the people so that any rights that were eroded over time were returned to the state.
The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chairman said he believed the concept of federalism was not an obstacle for the country to progress.
He said Malaysia was formed on the concept of federalism, just as many countries were founded on federalism.
“The United States, Germany, Australia, Canada, Belgium are among the federal-concept countries that have a central government with various patterns of political and administrative structure in addition to rights and privileges to the respective states.
“Those countries are already developed countries and therefore, I believe the concept of federalism is not an obstacle to progress,” he said.
Abang Johari said the previous leaders of the country had agreed to form Malaysia with certain conditions and privileges for one purpose, which was to bring Sarawak towards a more excellent era in terms of socio-economic development.
Also present were Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mamud and his wife Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Ragad Kurdi Taib, and Tourism, Arts, Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who is also the minister-in-charge for the state-level National Day 2021 celebration, as well as other state Cabinet ministers.
