Be patient and give Adenan a chance: Finance Minister
Published on: Friday, December 02, 2016
Kuching: Sarawakians should be more patient as Chief Minister Adenan Satem's negotiations with Putrajaya to restore autonomy rights would take time, said Second Finance Minister Wong Soon Koh.Wong said the state's lawmakers should give their full backing to the chief minister in future negotiations to reclaim Sarawak's rights."Let's be a bit patient and give Adenan a chance to do so. I'm sure he will resolve the issue sooner or later.
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That is the best attitude we should adopt," Wong told reporters at the Sarawak assembly today."To me, all the elected representatives in the House, irrespective of whether you are in the government or in the opposition, should give full support to our chief minster," he said.Wong, who is president of BN-friendly United People's Party (UPP), said opposition lawmakers should not attack Adenan for not pushing a motion to call for the restoration of Sarawak as an equal partner.He, however, noted that no questions were raised during Adenan's closing speech at the assembly today.
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"There was no disagreement. It was all quiet. But you know, they often go to the press pouring cold water on what our chief minister has done," Wong said.Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian said results could not be achieved "overnight".
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"I already said in my speech that if we need to table the motion, we'll table (it). But at the moment, PM (Najib Razak) has assured that if anything (needs) to be amended because it contradicts the MA63 spirit, he is willing to do so," Sim told reporters."And so we don't believe in confrontation. CM (Adenan) has said that diplomacy must come first. By being confrontational, no one wins. Everyone (gets) hurt and loses out," he said.Sim, who is president of BN component Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), added that tangible results may not be achieved in his lifetime."We always want to make sure whatever rights we had in MA63, we will get it back. And whether we can get it back in this current generation or not, I'm not sure. Because after 53 years, we slowly lost all the power. There's nothing (that can be done) overnight."Even the opposition, they didn't grow and become strong overnight. And there's no such thing as immediate results. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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