KUCHING: Former Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sri Aman chairman Leon Jimat Donald’s acknowledgment that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is doing much better at fighting for Sarawak’s autonomy and rights is highly appreciated.
“This shows his sincerity in calling a spade a spade, unlike so many of his ex-colleagues that relied on rhetoric and empty promises to garner votes,” said Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Stakan branch chairman Datuk Sim Kiang Chiok.
He said the public now had further evidence of DAP’s true nature, with Leon recently revealing the reasons behind his resignation from the party.
Noting Leon’s view that DAP is not the party for rural folks, he said Leon had rightly stated the truth that DAP was only active in urban and Chinese areas.
“Their sincerity has been called out by their own senior member through his reasons for resignation,” Sim said in a statement on Thursday (Jan 27).
On Leon stating that the composition of committee members in DAP left a lot to be desired as their top posts were dominated by a single race, Sim said this showed that DAP did not have a multiracial approach in the running of their state committee.
“His other reason for his resignation was that Sarawak DAP which is part of Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak ‘did not have real autonomy as could be seen during the PH administration’, which basically states that DAP is a Malayan party which can’t decide on Sarawak issues without their other Malayan partners in the PH coalition,” he said.
Thus, in the coming 15th General Election (GE15), he foresaw the same trend of going against DAP, as in the recently concluded Sarawak state election.
Sim said this was because the country was still unhappy with the party for wasting the opportunity previously given to them to make a difference.
“The people would still want to teach them a lesson – that the voters must be treated with respect, their trust can’t be taken for granted, and don’t treat the voters as fools,” he said.
He believed that in the coming GE15, Sarawakians would be wise that Malayan-based parties would not be as sincere and genuine in fighting for Sarawak’s autonomous rights as set in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), nor will they assist Sarawak in getting more power for the state government through the devolution process.
“A party that has to answer to their Malayan bosses will definitely be less trusted to do the work for Sarawak autonomy as compared to Sarawak-based parties that answer to Sarawakians. Only Sarawakian parties will look after Sarawak’s interests first,” said Sim.
He said SUPP Stakan branch had long taken the view that DAP’s ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ ideology itself was against every grain of Sarawak’s rights and autonomy.
“DAP’s most sought after scenario is absolute federalism with all power concentrated in the centre and Sarawak’s autonomy is the opposite of that. That is why we reiterate that DAP’s very own DNA will not allow for Sarawak to be autonomous, and all this and more is now clear for the public to see,” he emphasised.
