PAKATAN Harapan’s “New Deal” offer to Sarawak for greater autonomy and rights is no longer off, state PH head Chong Chieng Jen said today, in a reversal of his earlier claim on Wednesday.

Chong, however, denied that he was reversing his stand when he said earlier that the offer was no longer valid after the Barisan Nasional state government refused to sign the offer when it was presented to them on April 9.

“We are now the (federal) government. We were signing it on behalf of the PH government.

“We believe we have the authority,” Chong said.

PH’s New Deal includes “full devolution of powers” in education and healthcare and services; increasing the oil and gas royalty from 5% to 20%; and the federal government’s return of 50% of all taxes collected from Sarawak.

The state government would be given full autonomy to make decisions under the two ministries, including on policy, budget allocations, syllabus, employment of teaching and medical staff, procurement of equipment, and the building of schools and hospitals.

The New Deal was an election promise to be fulfilled if PH took over Putrajaya. But after the BN state government said it did not recognise the deal, Chong said earlier this week that it was no longer valid.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office Abdullah Saidol yesterday said the state government refused to sign the offer deal because the three PH signatories – Chong, PKR state chairman Baru Bian, and Amanah state head Fidzuan Zaidi – were not legal representatives of the federal government.

Chong said the state government’s rejection of the deal either meant that it had no confidence in managing the two ministries or that Sarawak BN was “simply not interested in taking over these responsibilities”.

However, Chong said PH would still continue to explore other avenues of devolution of power, including the setting up of the Special Cabinet Committee on the matter. – May 19, 2018.