KUCHING: The restyling of the Sarawak Chief Minister to Premier of Sarawak is timely to reflect the status of Sarawak in forming Malaysia, which is equivalent to the whole of Peninsular Malaysia or Malaya.
A Sarawak lawyer, Lim Heng Choo said it was inappropriate and outright wrong to equate Sarawak chief minister with the chief minister of Penang or Malacca.
He said it was now the time for Sarawak to pursue in earnest on the contractual terms, especially the Sarawak rights as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and Cobbold Commission.
“This is to implement the true intention and purpose of the formation of Malaysia in 1963.”
“Sarawak is being colonized by Malaya by failing to honour the contractual obligations,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted.
“This (restyling of the Chief Minister to Premier of Sarawak) will be an excellent starting point for Sarawak to assert its status and rights that rightly belong to Sarawak,” he said.
“The sooner Putrajaya can implement rights or restore all those rights belonging to Sarawak the better,” he added.
Lim said among the rights including the collection of stamp duties on land transfer as well as transportation – to reintroduce the former Inland Transport where the roads tax that are collected in Sarawak should remain in Sarawak and be used to improve roads, river transport and other infrastructure development.
“These are on top of the oil and gas rights. Besides, the whole Federal- Sarawak relationship needs to be revisited to reflect the current status of Sarawak.
