PAKATAN Harapan’s manifesto for Sarawak was the result of arduous negotiations which saw frayed tempers between opposition parties over the decentralisation of federal powers.

There was plenty of table banging and finger pointing, said Sarawak PH chief Chong Chieng Jen, who announced the state manifesto earlier this week.

Contentious points were the promises to give 20% of oil royalties to the state, instead of the current 5% under the Barisan Nasional federal government, the return of half of all taxes collected in Sarawak to the state, and autonomy over education and health services.

Education and health are listed as federal matters in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the treaty that Sarawak signed with Malaya, Sabah, and Singapore to form Malaysia.

However, PH wants education in Sarawak to have greater freedom from centralised policies and directives.

A key concern is allowing the inclusion of more Sarawakian history in the school syllabus.

Chong said the manifesto drafting committee faced difficulties from a Bersatu representative, a former Umno man.

“He refused to yield much and expected that everything should go his and the peninsula’s way, said Chong, who is contesting the Stampin federal seat.

The committee also struggled with the input of PH chairman and prime-minister-designate Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who initially did not agree to granting more autonomy to Sarawak as he was a firm believer in the centralisation of federal powers.

“We told him point blank that centralised power leads to abuse of power. He finally agreed to the policy of decentralisation after much argument,” Chong said.

It took months for all representatives to agree on the state manifesto, which was finalised “just before” nomination day last Saturday, the Sarawak DAP chief added.

The key to reaching consensus on greater autonomy was that Sarawak would finance implementation of these promises from the increased oil royalties and taxes returned to the state.

Sarawak presently exercises only selected autonomy rights it has under the agreement, such as immigration control and the use of English in its state legislative assembly proceedings and official state government business.

In recent years, there has been a groundswell of protest by grassroots organisations over the erosion of other rights, leading to Najib Razak’s government promising that BN would negotiate the return of remaining rights.

To PH, however, there is no need for negotiation as these rights are already enshrined.

Announcing the manifesto on Tuesday, Chong said the promises of greater autonomy and increased revenue from royalties and taxes were a “done deal” with no further need of negotiations should PH form a new federal government.

Sarawak has been demanding greater rights and more autonomy from Putrajaya in keeping with the agreement that was signed when Sarawak as an independent state formed Malaysia together with Sabah, Malaya, and Singapore in 1963. – May 6, 2018.