“Therefore, the recent announcement by (Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri) Adenan Satem is not an adoption of English as the second official language of Sarawak. It is merely putting right what has been wronged all this while,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
Chong, who is also Kota Sentosa assemblyman and state DAP chairman, pointed out that the National Language Act had not been extended to Sarawak.
By virtue of Article 161(1) and (2) of the Federal Constitution, he said the English language remains the official language of Sarawak, and there should be no restriction on its use for all official purposes in the state.
“Unless there is a law specifically taking away the status of English as the official language of Sarawak, it will remain so. And so far there is no such law.
“Likewise, it is also the rights of Sarawak and Sabah Members of Parliament to speak in English in Parliament. This is our Sarawak’s rights and should not be compromised in any way.”
Chong regretted that BN MPs in Sarawak had not made any stand on the matter.
“On the contrary, we have a Sarawak BN MP, Tiong King Sing (MP for Bintulu), speaking up against this Sarawak’s rights. It seems that when the Sarawak BN MPs come over to Peninsular Malaysia, they have forgotten the Sarawak’s special rights or are they too afraid of offending their Umno masters in Peninsular Malaysia?
“If that were the attitude and mentality of the Sarawak BN MPs, how can we Sarawakians rely on them to defend our Sarawak’s special rights?”
Chong reminded that Adenan had been talking a lot in Sarawak about getting more autonomous power from the federal government.
However, he said if the Sarawak BN representatives in federal “do not even dare to defend our existing rights”, Sarawakians cannot expect them to fight for additional rights.
He asserted that the elected representatives must first defend their existing rights before fighting for new rights.
“We must stop Umno from further eroding our Sarawak’s special rights. Adenan, as the head of Sarawak BN, must ensure that his BN MPs and federal ministers not be reduced to Umno’s followers when they come over to Peninsular Malaysia.”-Borneo Post
Post a Comment