“Sarawak's grouse is not about the lack of power,” the state's Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing said.
“The state's frustration is the non-compliance, or the perception of non-compliance, of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.”
Masing said the extra power, or “empowerment” as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak described it last Monday, would not address the frustration.
“To address it, Putrajaya must revisit the MA63 (Malaysia Agreement 1963) and find out where are the non-compliance issue.
“If indeed there are deviation or non-compliance, Putrajaya must correct them immediately,” Masing, a senior minister in the state cabinet said.
He said further procrastination would only strengthen and give credibility to the cry of secession by certain group.
“MA63 was the basis for the creation of the Federation of Malaysia.
“This basis must therefore be honoured for the federation to survive.”
Masing reminded Putrajaya that "the Sarawakians of today are not the same with the Sarawakians of 1963”.
“They are now educated and well read.
“So procrastination and playing ignorance in addressing Sarawakians' frustration will not work.”
Masing pointed to the movement Sarawak For Sarawakians (S4S), which had been villified by some of his colleagues in the cabinet and treated with suspicion as being pro-secession by Putrajaya, which he said are “the messenger of the message of frustration”.
As a word of caution to Putrajaya, he said: “Don't kill it. Listen to them.”
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