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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Will Najib keep his promise on ‘autonomy’?

Or is he merely exploiting sentiments in Sarawak with an eye on the upcoming state election?
adenan-najib
By Kelvin Yii
“Autonomy” now seems to be the magic word in Sarawak. The mere mention of it spreads excitement and hope. No wonder Chief Minister Adenan Satem chose it as the theme for his efforts to establish his power.
I am all for my state having the powers to decide its own direction and future, knowing that it has been sidelined for so long by our cousins in the west. However, I would caution my compatriots against being dazed by such calls and promises so that they cannot see the reality of things.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who spoke in Kuching last Monday, was quoted as saying:
“A lot of overlapping (of powers) can be avoided. Many resources can be saved if we can streamline powers between the departments concerned in the federal government and the Sarawak government.”
He promised to reduce the powers of “certain” federal departments. How are we supposed to react? Isn’t that what we’ve been crying out for all this while?
But is the PM really giving us the autonomy we are demanding? His words were clearly focused on “duplication and wasted resources” though he did promise to give certain powers back to the Sarawakians and to reduce the powers of federal departments.
May I suggest that “reducing” is not the same as “relinquishing” powers. It could be that we will have more decision-making powers, but decisions will still be based on federal policies and guidelines.
Could this mean that we’ll have just superficial reforms under the guise of “autonomy”? This could very well be just a bait on a sharp hook.
These promises could very well be also just election fluff. We know that the state election is just around the corner. So what better way to get the support of the people than to exploit the “autonomy” sentiment?
I would like to say please do not insult our intelligence.
Let us keep in mind who is making this promise. This is the same person who made multiple promises before GE13. Ask yourselves how many of them have actually come to pass. This is the same person who promised to repeal the draconian Sedition Act, the same person who promised no increase of tolls and petrol prices before the elections, and the very same person who imposed the dreaded GST on us without any transparency as to how the extra revenue was going to be used for the people and the betterment of the nation.
I wouldn’t go to the extent of calling him a liar, but how can we trust him to grant us something that will reduce his powers given that he’s even now so determined to keep the powers he has despite so much opposition?
Najib is at his weakest point in terms of political support. He is probably desperate to boost his popularity in the state that has traditionally given him the highest amount of votes, the state where the CM fully supports him despite all the scandals swirling around him.
Can you blame us if we are a bit sceptical about all this?
This is a PM who shows more interest in keeping his power than in treating the ailing economy and reducing the hardship of the people. So once we have helped him retain power, do you think he will keep his promise and grant us “autonomy” and meet the other demands we are making?
Or will we be sidelined all over again?
I doubt that he will ever grant us the oil royalty we are demanding as it will clearly not benefit his government.
Perhaps Adenan is making a big mistake in giving his unequivocal support to the man who might not even last long enough to be held accountable for the promises he made to the people of Sarawak.
Kelvin Yii is an FMT reader

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