Wong Soon Koh.
KUCHING (Aug 24): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s call for all parties including the opposition to unite as a ‘Malaysian Family’ to jointly revive the country is ‘wishful thinking at best’, said Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh.
He said this is especially when taking into consideration the inequities that have prevailed in Malaysia for so many decades.
“In a family, siblings are treated equally. Political constituencies are not treated unfairly and victimised just because they exercise their democratic right to vote for an opposition party. People are not segregated into different classes based on race.
“Higher education and employment opportunities in the civil service should be open to all based on merits and not on skin colour.
“If the Prime Minister is sincere about reconciliation and bringing Malaysians together, then he must first act as a fair father to all Malaysians,” he said in a statement.
Wong said Ismail has to realise that in the last General Election (GE14), the people had voted against Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno and PAS, the very parties which were now in control of the federal government.
“That is the reason why this government has often been called a backdoor government because it lacks the legitimacy of being the choice of the rakyat,” he pointed out.
The Bawang Assan assemblyman said if the government wanted to show its sincerity to the opposition and the people, it must table the Bills that former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin offered in order to stay in power including bipartisan consultation for supply (budget) bills; implementation of Undi18 without waiting for automatic registration; laws to prevent defection of lawmakers; term limit for prime minister; annual allocation for all MPs; half of the select committees to be headed by the opposition; and opposition leader to be treated as a senior cabinet minister.
“In that way, even if this government lacks the legitimacy of being elected by the people, it can show that it will put the interests of the nation first,” he added.
For East Malaysians, Wong said the immediate restoration of rights under Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) that have been eroded is of paramount importance.
“It is an indictment of the Sarawak political alliance of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) that they chose to disregard the wishes of the rakyat expressed in GE14 and throw their lot behind their former partners in BN after declaring that they had decided to leave BN to form an independent Sarawak alliance,” he said.
He also said that GPS had the kingmaker votes of 18 MPs that decided who could form the government after Muhyiddin resigned.
“They could have made history by choosing an East Malaysian as Prime Minister but instead, they chose to obediently follow their erstwhile partners BN.
“In doing so, they have failed to seize the golden opportunity to have Sarawak rights under MA63 fully restored and the status of Sarawak as one of the founding partners recognised by demanding an undertaking from the federal government to amend the Constitution,” he said, adding that in this, GPS has failed the people of Sarawak and must be held accountable in the next Sarawak election.