S4S debate packed but ‘still lain-lain’

A section of audience at the S4S debate.

KUCHING: The inaugural political debate ‘Safeguard Sarawak’ that was hosted by the Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) movement here yesterday was well received, in terms of audience.
Organising chairman Peter John Saban claimed among those present were people from Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. There were also forum observers and representatives from the United Nations (UN).
But in terms of participants, leaders from only three parties showed up, despite invitations to all political parties in the state.
Present were state PKR chief Baru Bian, PBDS Baru deputy president Patrick Anek Uren and SUPP Pelawan secretary Michael Tiang.
Peter said S4S would not accept a candidate who would not stand up for the rights of Sarawak.
“Do you want to vote for a monkey? A monkey will rob from you,” he cautioned in his opening remarks during the debate at the former Kenyalang Theatre.
Peter touted the debate as the first of its kind in the country and that it touched on what Sarawakians could do to restore the state’s autonomy.
“We are here today to talk about the future of our state. We love Sarawak.”
He said politicians in Malaysia had never talked about the Malaysia Agreement 1963, until the movement brought it up.
He alleged Sarawak had been sinking for the last couple of decades and that the Dayaks “are still lain-lain”, based on what he read in the local dailies recently.

“They just want us to write ourselves. Are we supposed to do that? They teach us what to do, remember that.
“They are telling us that they are not doing anything for us. They want us to do it ourselves. So, it’s simple, the power is in our hands.”
Last Thursday, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani said the state government now allowed Dayaks to write down their race in government official forms in the ‘Lain-Lain’ column.
“If there is the ‘Lain-Lain’ column, they can cross out the word ‘Lain-Lain’ and put their race there. For those who want to indicate if he or she is Iban, Bidayuh and so on, they can also state so in the form. It’s flexible,” said Morshidi.
Peter claimed S4S was not fighting for any race or religion “as we are fighting for the whole state of Sarawak.”
He said the movement’s campaign to press for Sarawak’s autonomy had gathered 300,000 signatures from across the state.
Hence, the chief minister, he claimed, was invited to the debate so that they (S4S) could hand the petition to him.
Given the chief minister’s absence, Peter said: “You people should know what kind of chief minister he is. We are not important to him. We will forward the petition to the UN.”

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