我要独立 7:30 AMNATIONAL BUDGET - FOR SARAWAK A BIG FAT ZERO!
President
of Sarawak Reform Party (STAR) Lina Soo calls the national budget
unveiled today as a kindergarten budget lacking substance and
tangibility.
As for Sarawak, it is just a Big Fat Zero, one of
the reasons being Sarawak’s allocation of RM4.346 billion for
development is a mere 0.23% increase from the RM4.346 billion which
Sarawak received in 2017.
Instead, Soo notes that PM Tun Dr
Mahathir has just announced that Petronas has money to pay federal
government RM30 billion which is a special dividend attributed to the
rising price from less than $50 at the beginning of the year. Sarawak
produces the most expensive oil in the world which is the darling of
refiners for its lightness and extremely low suphur content.
With
its oil price at $77 today, and Sarawak producing as much as 800,000
boe (barrel oil equivalent) per day, this is equivalent to a production
of a staggering RM250 million EVERY SINGLE DAY, Soo calculates.
Why
is Sarawak not getting a sen of this ‘windfall profit’ due to the
recent increased price for Sarawak oil, asks Soo. Instead RM30 billion
of this extraordinary profit will go to Federal government which already
receives royalty, dividend and taxes, with nothing for Sarawak who is
the goose that lays the golden egg.
Sarawak alones contributes
10-12% of Malaysia’s GDP annually. At RM115 billion in 2017, an
allocation of 4.3 billion is just 3% of Sarawak’s contribution. Out of
the national budget of RM314billion, Sarawak is getting a mere 1.3% for
all its contribution, says Soo and asks what is the benefit of remaining
in a relationship where what one party has to give is all out of gross
proportion to what one receives in return.
Pakatan’s sweet words
of equal partners and empty promises of development for Sarawak are
mere political rhetoric to hoodwink Sarawakians. When Budget time
comes, we are just equal partners to Perlis or Kedah.
Soo says
Sarawakians are now better aware of our interests, rights and
protections enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement and our Constitutions,
and sweet promises of nothings will no longer pacify Sarawakians so
easily as in the past. Soo believes the people of Sarawak will be more
determined now in demanding their rights and dues which had gone
unheeded and been cruelly brushed aside for so long.
Soo urges
the Sarawak government to take action to compel Petronas to share half
of its windfall profits generated from Sarawak which had been exploited
and impoverished for so long. Sarawak Reform Party shall continue to
play its role effectively as critique and watchdog for Sarawak,
concludes Soo.
Lina Soo
3/11/2018
ICERD自1969年1月在联合国生效始，旨在谴责一切形式的种族、宗教和民族仇恨和行为，必须採取一切必要措施加以防止。除了较有爭议的第14条条文，即「允许各缔约方承认委员会（CERD）有权听取个人对於侵犯公约所保障权利的投诉」或许与绝大部分签约国主权干预有所牴触，而不被承认外，连中国这个受人权问题缠身的国家，不仅是签约国，而且还是CERD的委员之一。
全世界目前未签署也未批准的国家，除了少数主权爭议国如台湾和西撒哈拉，就只剩下安哥拉、缅甸、朝鲜和我国，以及太平洋的零星岛屿国家。西撒哈拉和台湾虽有主权，却因领土爭议之故，非会员即便想签署亦不得其们尚可理解。那么，一直標榜多元族群、民主国家的马来西亚，与安哥拉、缅甸、朝鲜並列就诡异了（若不把零星岛国列入）。
敦马曾响应人道课题
安哥拉內乱至今，相信无从搭理；诸如朝鲜、缅甸者，前者不必赘言，缅甸的人权问题，连我国甚至都插上一脚，为被驱赶和屠杀罗兴亚人仗义。荒谬的是，我国竟然不是ICERD的签署国，名不正言不顺之余，大马究竟有何顏面，能在国际上斥责和批判他国的族群衝突与宗教歧视等人道议题？
老马在执政22年期间，曾长期涉入国际上的各类人道议题，如在波黑战爭期间派出维和部队，甚至表扬过曼德拉反对种族隔离的抗爭精神，在国际上我国是走在前方，竭力於各项联合国等国际事务的。
几个月前正当我国换新天时，有国人发动网上联署，称马哈迪是我国「曼德拉」，应获得诺贝尔和平奖提名，听起来可笑，却也无不可。老马要如何证明自己不是昔日的狗熊，而是全民英雄，ICERD的初步签署和缔约迫在眉睫，无可避免！
