KUCHING: DAP is fundamentally a Malayan-based political party and Sarawakians should not surrender more political space to it in the coming state election.
Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap was responding to an appeal by DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, who had called on voters to maintain him and Violet Yong as the party’s only two representatives in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly.
Yap said Sarawakians should question why the state should give more influence to a party whose leadership and political direction are based in Malaya.
“Sarawak has its own unique history, constitutional position, political culture and rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963,” he said in the statement, adding that the state’s political future must be determined by and for Sarawakians.
He said DAP’s call for greater “check and balance” was not an automatic guarantee of better governance, arguing that a strong state assembly depends on representatives who put “Sarawak First,” not on the number of seats held by a Malayan party.
Yap said every additional seat won by a Malayan-based party could extend the influence of a political direction set outside Sarawak, at a time when the state needs unity to negotiate fiscal autonomy, immigration powers and resource rights with Putrajaya.
He said Sarawak, under the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government, had shown it could chart its own development path and build the capacity to exercise its rights.
“Sarawak belongs to Sarawakians. Sarawak must be led by Sarawakians. Sarawak’s future must be decided by Sarawakians,” he said.
