2021 Constitution Amendment Bill is the initial fulfilment of Impian Malaysia launched by the DAP with over 100 health, education and infrastructure projects in Sarawak in the five years from 2013 to 2018

The 2021 Constitution Amendment Bill is the initial fulfilment of Impian Malaysia project launched by the DAP with over 100 health, education and infrastructure projects in Sarawak in the five years from 2013 to 2018.

The passage of the 2021 Constitution Amendment Bill in Dewan Rakyat on 14th December 2021 is the first step, and not the last step, in the restoration of the full citizenship rights of the people of Sarawak with regard to equitable financial allocations, autonomy for education and health, just share of oil rights and fair share of the development funds for the upliftment of Sarawak.

I visited Mambong and Serian constituencies this morning, and I am shocked by the depth of poverty suffered by the Dayak community which should not exist today if Sarawak’s rights and interests had been looked after as was intended by the founders of Malaysia 58 years ago in 1963.

I said in Kuching earlier this morning that there can be no new dawn for Sarawak unless there is a new dawn for Malaysia. Such a new dawn will take several decades, and not years, to accomplish.

I want now to add that there can be no new dawn in Sarawak unless all communities in Sarawak, Dayak, Malay-Melanau and Chinese, have a new dawn for their rights and interests which had been denied for half-a-century, whether by 1976 Constitution Amendment Bill or a series of actions which were insensitive to the rights and interests of all communities in Sarawak.

When Sarawak joined Sabah and Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963, the first two Sarawak Chief Ministers were Dayaks- Stephen Kalong Ningkan and Tawi Sli.

Since then, the office of Sarawak Chief Minister seemed to have slipped out of Dayak hands.

Sarawak cannot have any new dawn unless the Dayak community can dream of an Dayak becoming a Chief Minister of Sarawak again.

When can an Dayak become a Sarawak Chief Minister. Nobody knows. But at present, it seemed to have become an impossible dream. If so, how can there be a new dawn for Sarawak when the first two Sarawak Chief Ministers were Dayaks?

It has taken over 200 years for a black man to become the President of the United States, but Sarawak seemed to have travelled in the opposite direction and receded to a stage where it is an impossible dream for an Dayak to become a Sarawak Chief Minister in 50 years.

Sarawak must become a normal entity where Dayaks can realistically dream of becoming the Sarawak Chief Minister, although nobody can predict when such a possibility can be realised.

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri