No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.
– Cinderella, a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression and triumphant reward
“We need to make Sarawakians feel that the PH government cares for them, that they are part of the country’s mainstream development, and bring them the development that they deserve.” – DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng
Because of that the next state election will be a major challenge for DAP, and rightly so because Sarawakians have been cheated and lied to by its leaders, which is something Sarawak voters will not forget.
How can they forget the unfair treatment given them by the PH government? If Penang can so easily get billions for its development projects, the undersea tunnel included, why is it so difficult for Sarawak to get federal funds to repair its dilapidated schools?
No, Sarawakians are not going to forget how the state was made to pay its federal debt in advance – something that had never been forced upon states in the country before – to be able to start doing something meaningful for its down-trodden school infrastructure.
On the contrary, Sarawakians must be constantly reminded of the people we are dealing with in PH, DAP in particular, who have spoken so much but done little to make us feel we are part of the country’s mainstream development, as Lim puts it.
A July 24 2019 The Star report is fair reminder to Sarawakians as to why Lim cannot be trusted to keep his words:
[KOTA KINABALU: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng should first keep the Pakatan Harapan election promise of giving 20 percent oil royalties to the eastern states of Malaysia before asking Sarawak to repay its loans, says an Umno supreme council member.
Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said this following a statement by Lim that the Federal Government was ready to extend RM350mil to the Sarawak government for school repairs if it first paid back loans of the same amount to Putrajaya.
“It is arrogant of (Lim) Guan Eng to ask Sarawak to pay up before he can give the allocation for dilapidated schools in Sarawak.
“In the first year of Guan Eng as the Finance Minister, he took RM82bil from Petronas. I am sure most of that came from Petronas profits in Sarawak’s coast.
“Recalling the DAP national retreat programme before the 14th General Election (GE14), he announced after the retreat that if PH won GE14, they would be fair to Sabah and Sarawak which they claimed had been marginalised (dianaktirikan) by Barisan Nasional (BN).
“Guan Eng even publicly said he agreed to Sabah and Sarawak getting the 20% oil royalties,” he posted on his official Facebook account, referring to the promised increase from the current 5%.
Rahman said that according to a report by The Edge Markets on July 26 last year, the 5% oil royalties for Sarawak was worth RM1.58bil, which means the additional 15% promised would amount to RM4.74bil.
In the case of Sabah, their 5% oil royalty amounted to RM1.32bil, so an additional 15% would be RM3.96bil.
“Therefore there’s no need for Guan Eng to ask Sarawak to clear its debts first; the same goes with Sabah.
“As Finance Minister, (he should) keep his promise first to pay the additional 15% or RM4.74bil to Sarawak,” he said.
Rahman added that the money would be enough not only to repair dilapidated schools but also completely settle Sarawak’s debts to the Federal Government.]
The fact today is: PH (or DAP) does not care for Sarawak; all it wants to do is grab Sarawak and milk the state dry of its resources, in particular oil and gas resources.
The fact today is: Sarawak is not part of Malaysia’s mainstream development. Most development projects being implemented in the state are financed by the GPS state government.
The fact today is: The PH government (DAP included) does not think Sarawak deserves to be treated as equal partners of the original makers of Malaysia. Sarawak remains ‘dianaktirikan’.
The state election will soon come, let’s show PH and DAP what this ‘stepchild’ state can and will do to a morally abusive political ‘stepfather’.
