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Saturday, July 23, 2016

Congratulations on recognizing Sarawak's own independence - Dr. Jeffrey

KOTA KINABALU - “Heartiest Congratulations to the Sarawak government for recognizing Sarawak’s own independence and to all Malaysians in Sarawak on their official celebration of Sarawak Day as the inaugural public holiday” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, State Assemblyman for Bingkor cum President of Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) and the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), to mark the celebration of Sarawak’s Independence Day and its declaration as an official public holiday for the first time in Sarawak.

“The Borneo Heritage Foundation started celebrating Sarawak Day way back in 2010 and in 2013 with other activists in Sarawak demanded that Sarawak Day on 22nd July should be declared as a public holiday” said Dr. Jeffrey. 

This year, 22nd July, it is a historic day and the Sarawak government and its Chief Minister Adenan deserve more than congratulations for stepping up and declaring Sarawak Day as a public holiday.

It is not surprising that Sarawakians are jubilant that Sarawak Day has not only been declared as a public holiday but officially recognized as its Independence Day. 

It also marks the first step in recognizing the status of Sarawak and the basis of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

More significantly and much more importantly, it is also a crucial step in helping to correct the manipulations and distortion of the history of Sarawak and of the formation of Malaysia.

Closer to home, Sabah should honour and celebrate Sabah Day on 31st August and celebrate 16th September as Malaysia Day and National Day and not 31st August as Merdeka Day which is factually the Independence Day for Malaya.   For without Sabah and Sarawak, there would be no Malaysia today.

Now that Sarawak Day has been declared and officially recognized and celebrated in Sarawak, there is no reason for the Sabah government not to recognize Sabah Day this year and to declare it as a public holiday too.

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