KUCHING: President of State Reform Party (STAR) urges the Sarawak government to allow Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown to visit Sarawak.
“We welcome visitors to Sarawak and wish every guest a memorable stay as they are our ambassadors to promote Sarawak as the premier tourist destination after enjoying our unique Sarawak hospitality,” said the STAR president Lina Soo.
She added that the immigration ban was old-school and the State government should not misuse the immigration autonomy for political purposes.
Soo expressed her agreement with former soldier Fabian Wong, which was reported in a recent local newspaper, to seek the investigative skills of Clare to probe into the alleged failure of the British government to fulfil its trusteeship obligations to Sarawak following the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
She claimed that Britain must fulfil its participative responsibility to ensure compliance of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as Sarawak’s rights and territorial integrity were being transgressed over the loss of its political status to being one of the 13 states of the Federation, loss of its parliamentary veto power upon the departure of Singapore, loss of its rights over oil and gas in Sarawak and loss of Sarawak’s international waters to the Federal government.
“The British government is the architect and principal signatory to the MA63 for the surrender of Sarawak’s sovereignty to the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, and Britain cannot be a silent bystander as Sarawak with its bountiful oil and gas reserves descend into one of the poorest regions,” argued the STAR president.
She added that the British government did indeed put in “safeguards and protections” in the MA63, but it seemed that many of these rights had been desecrated by the failure of the Federal government to honour them.
With Clare declaring her interest in Sarawak, Soo urged the editor to uncover the Federal government’s multiple breaches of Sarawak rights as had been set out in the MA63, and to seek if it constitutes the willful discontinuance of the International Treaty as well as to advocate remedial action in the course of justice for Sarawak.
The STAR president hoped that the State government would lift the entry ban upon Clare immediately and allow her to enjoy the place she had lived in as a child.
