KUCHING: Sarawak will not accept any outsider to contest in elections in the state or to become a member of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN).
According to Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Sarawak does not have a system like in Sabah where a non-Sabahan can be nominated as a state assemblyperson.
He was alluding to Penang-born Loh Ee Eng who was recently nominated as an assemblyman in Sabah.
“If the Parti Warisan Sabah-led government wants to do that, it is their prerogative and their rights,” he told reporters during his Hari Raya open house at Green Road here on Thursday.
The veteran lawyer said however they could no longer talk so much about Sabah for Sabahan and Sabah rights.
“But to me, and thinking like Sarawakian and as far as I am concerned, in the context of Sarawak, the appointment of non-Sarawakian certainly is not acceptable,” he stressed.
In the case of having a system of appointment, Wan Junaidi said anybody appointed must have a credible background.
“Just like in the Dewan Negara, according to the constitution, those appointed as Senators must have special skills, are involved in and can help society and possess some specialty over ordinary politicians.
“So, for Sabah, they should have that kind of thing in mind,” he pointed out.
On Monday, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said there is nothing in the state constitution stating that only those born in Sabah can be nominated as assemblyman.
“Loh is a ‘naturalised Sabahan of Malaya origin’. Like some other Sabahans, he was not born in Sabah but he has migrated to Sabah many years ago since he was young,” he said.
Yong said the only restriction is in the Sabah constitution Article 2(1) and Article 6(4), which stipulated that a naturalised Sabahan many not be appointed as Head of State and chief minister respectively.
