Four reasons why Sarawak should unite behind DAP candidates and not split their votes in the Sarawak general election on Dec. 18

I am at the Sibu Airport to rush back to Kuala Lumpur for the voting in Parliament on the 2021 Constitution Amendment Bill to end 45 years of injustices to Sarawak and Sabah caused by the 1976 Constitution Amendment Bill which resulted in Sarawak and Sabah not enjoying the rights and interests intended in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

There are four reasons by the voters of Sarawak should unite behind DAP and Pakatan Harapan candidates and not split their votes in the Sarawak general election on Dec. 18, 2021.

They are:

1. DAP has been accused as a peninsular party and not a Sarawak party and therefore cannot be trusted. But the 1976 Constitution Amendment Bill proved that DAP is more Malaysian and Sarawakian then the Sarawak government political parties for while all the MPs of the Sarawak government parties supported the 1976 Constitution Amendment which reduced Sarawak to one of the 13 Malaysian states instead of one of the three territories which together with Sabah and Malaya formed Malaysia in 1963, the DAP MPs opposed it. The 130 MPs who voted for the 1976 Constitution Amendment Bill included former Sarawak government leaders like Abdul Rahman Yaacob, Taib Mahmud, Ong Kee Hui, Stephen Yong, Edmund Langgu and Patrick Uren. But all the nine opposition votes came from DAP. The 1976 Constitution Amendment which is largely the cause of the injustices suffered by Sarawak and Sabah in terms of financial allocation and development was passed in Parliament before the DAP set up branches in Sarawak. This showed that even before DAP formed branches in Sarawak, the DAP was more Malaysian and Sarawakian than the Sarawak government parties.
2. After the DAP had established branches in Sarawak in 1978, the last 43 years have seen DAP Members of Parliament and State Assembly members elected in the various parliamentary and state assembly elections, they had all flown high the rights and interests of Sarawak and Malaysia.
3. The 2021 Constitution Amendment Bill today is only the first step to restore the full rights and position of Sarawak (and Sabah), and DAP elected representatives, whether in Parliament or the Sarawak State Assembly, are important voices to undo the injustices of the past half-a-century in terms of financial allocation and development.
4. The 14th General Election in 2018 is a political watershed for Malaysia, for it has ended the UMNO political hegemony in the country. This should mark the end of regression of half-a-century of the country losing out to other countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam, so that in the coming decades, we do not lose to other countries like Indonesia and the Philippines. We should begin to overtake other countries instead of being overtaken by other countries. Let the Sarawak general election be the beginning of a second “Long March” movement for Malaysia to become a world-class great country before Malaysia celebrates its 100th Birthday in the next few decades.