I was never Australia citizen: Dr Sim

CHONG’S RIDICULOUS COMPARISON

KUCHING: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian has slammed Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen for comparing the former’s Australian permanent residence to an Australian citizenship.

Dr Sim said the “ridiculous” statement coming from Chong was intended to confuse and mislead Sarawakians into doubting his loyalty to Sarawak and his status as the people’s representative.

He said Chong was merely trying to justify his argument in support of fellow Democratic Action Party (DAP) representative Dr Ting Tiong Choon who recently ceased being the Pujut assemblyman for acquiring Australian citizenship.

“Ting lost his qualifications as a Sarawak state assemblyman due to his Australian citizenship, and now Chong is all out to confuse and mislead our fellow Sarawakians by ridiculously comparing my Australian permanent residence with Tiong’s Australian citizenship,” he said.

Dr Sim continued: “While I was in Australia for 17 years, I have never acquired Australian citizenship or exercised rights of citizenship in, or made any declaration of allegiance to, any country outside the federation of Malaysia as my home is Sarawak.

“As soon as I completed my training as a cardiologist in Melbourne Australia, I returned to Sarawak to serve in public hospital.”

He further mentioned that his situation is different from that of Ting who chose to serve in Australia after completing his medical school and went on to obtain his Australian citizenship.

“By applying his Australian citizenship, Ting swore his loyalty to Australia and this is not required for permanent residence applicants.

“I came back to serve Sarawak and eventually was elected as a state assemblyman for Batu Kawah as a Sarawakian,” he explained.

He also said that unlike other states in Malaya, he was very proud that the state’s constitution strictly prohibits non-Sarawakians to serve as a state assembly member, the highest authority in the land.

“As Chong was so dissatisfied with the recent court’s decision to bar Ting from serving in the state assembly, is he trying to propose to allow non-Sarawakians to serve in our state assembly?

“I’m wondering whether there are any hidden agenda in the PH camp to use Sarawak DAP to find ways to create openings for non-Sarawakians to rule and represent us in our State legislature, not for our interests but for their endless political ambitions and greed,” Dr Sim said.