Chief Minister Adenan Satem yesterday shot down DAP Sarawak’s claims that the party was the first to bring up the issue on the state’s autonomy, saying he had proof that it was in fact he himself who was the first to bring up the matter.
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“The first person to bring up this matter of autonomy and empowerment was myself. It was around two weeks after I was appointed Chief Minister,” he told a press conference at Wisma Bapa Malaysia in Kuching yesterday.
Citing an interview with a national paper on March 16, 2014, Adenan read his then statement to members of the media in which he was quoted as saying:
“(State DAP chairman) Chong (Chieng Jen) must be patient enough to wait and don’t take credit for doing nothing. If DAP were to negotiate, the federal government would not even open their doors to them,” he stressed.
The state DAP had been relentless in claiming that they were the ones who had been giving the government the push to fight for the state’s autonomy.
One of their claims was alleging Adenan had reduced himself to gutter politics by making baseless accusations that the opposition was belittling the state’s fight for autonomy.
Chong also said Adenan’s accusation was a way for the chief minister to cover up his failure in getting the federal Barisan Nasional (BN) to agree to give more autonomy to the state.
With the announcement made by Adenan yesterday that the discussion with Najib was positive and resulted in a 13-point provision of administrative empowerment to the state government, it looks like Chong now has a bitter pill to swallow.
Citing an interview with a national paper on March 16, 2014, Adenan read his then statement to members of the media in which he was quoted as saying:
“Our relationship with the federal government must be constitutionally correct. The relationship between Sarawak and KL is different from that between Pahang, for instance, and KL. We are an autonomous state according to the Malaysia Agreement.He then chided DAP for trying to claim credit for something that they did not do, adding that DAP might even claim credit for the positive outcome from his meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in Putrajaya on Wednesday.
"We did not join Malaysia, we are a party to the formation of Malaysia. There was no Malaysia to join before the signing of the Malaysia Agreement. We are equal partners in the federation. There are some who feel that they are not but generally we are.
"All along we must insist on our autonomy and I think in some ways it is respected. But it depends on how assertive we are with regard to our rights.
“This was what I said on March 16, 2014. The so-called Bintulu Declaration in which DAP claimed they are fighting for autonomy is dated Oct 26, 2014, even months after my statement.”
“(State DAP chairman) Chong (Chieng Jen) must be patient enough to wait and don’t take credit for doing nothing. If DAP were to negotiate, the federal government would not even open their doors to them,” he stressed.
The state DAP had been relentless in claiming that they were the ones who had been giving the government the push to fight for the state’s autonomy.
One of their claims was alleging Adenan had reduced himself to gutter politics by making baseless accusations that the opposition was belittling the state’s fight for autonomy.
Chong also said Adenan’s accusation was a way for the chief minister to cover up his failure in getting the federal Barisan Nasional (BN) to agree to give more autonomy to the state.
With the announcement made by Adenan yesterday that the discussion with Najib was positive and resulted in a 13-point provision of administrative empowerment to the state government, it looks like Chong now has a bitter pill to swallow.