KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan (PH) has deliberately broken its promise in failing to give 20 per cent oil and gas royalty to Sarawak.
Political commentator Datuk Peter Minos said PH Sarawak can kiss goodbye to their promise after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had asserted that the federal government could not meet Sarawak’s request. He also said Petronas would go down if the request is met.
“This is very sad. A promise is deliberately broken. Sarawak has little hope of rising up economically, much less catching up with Malaya,” Minos said.
He lamented that nobody in PH seemed to care that Sarawak is far behind Malaya in so many things and areas and thus needed a lot of funds to accelerate its economic development.
“Without the money, Sarawak will continue to lag behind…maybe forever and that is not to be accepted.
“Looks like it will be that way. That is why YB Nancy Shukri (MP for Batang Sadong) said that by October 31 this year, if the powers are not returned, Sarawak must think of going to court.
“What other choice is there? So are we hypocritical by bringing up issues that adversely affect Sarawak? We are not. It is our right to speak up when we are aggrieved,” he said.
He pointed out that speaking up for what is right shouldn’t be seen as being hypocritical.
“If say Pakatan Harapan (PH) should lose in the next general election and speaks up for what is right and against what is wrong in Malaysia will that be hypocritical? Of course, not,” he stressed.
He said now that PH is the federal government but has deliberately broken the many promises they made prior to the last general election, many Malaysians and especially Sarawakians are unhappy.
“Treating Sarawak shabbily by cutting funds left and right is wrong,” he added, and reminded that Sarawakians are only speaking up for their rights and what they were promised.
“They are just behaving like normal Malaysians who are aggrieved and there is nothing hypocritical about that,” Minos stressed.
