THE leader of a Sarawak pro-independence political party wants the state government to explain why Sarawak Independence Day on July 22 is now just called Sarawak Day.

Lina Soo, president of Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party said the people deserve an explanation as to why the state’s independence, gained when the last colonial British governor Alexander Waddell left the state on that particular date in 1963, isn’t acknowledged.

That was the date Waddell also handed Sarawak’s government to Sarawakians, Soo said in an online forum on “Different insights on Sarawak Day” organised by Dewan Muda Malaysia Sarawak last night.

“Is the administration of Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg trying to brainwash us by getting the word ‘independence” out of our heads? Are we not supposed to talk about it?” Soo questioned.

July 22 was gazetted as a public holiday known as Sarawak Independence Day in 2016 under the state’s Public Holidays Ordinance during the administration of then chief minister Adenan Satem, Abang Johari’s predecessor, but Soo said the state in recent years has stopped using the proper name since 2019.

Soo acknowledged the wider debate on whether the date marking Waddell’s departure and handing over of power to a local government meant independence or the start of self-governance.

“But no nation in the world celebrates self-governance day. Every nation celebrates Independence Day.

“So, to censor the word ‘independence’ from the official gazetted notification is weird,” said Soo, whose party’s platform is for Sarawak to be independent of the Federation of Malaysia through a referendum.

She said if Abang Johari’s administration has doubts whether July 22 should mark Sarawak’s independence or just its self-governance, it should get the views of international law experts.

Semantics aside, other panellists at the online forum agreed that the date is highly symbolic for people in the state.

“It really is shining a light on an important date.”

“One of the problems we have is that the history of Malaysia is too-Malaya centric. There is not enough (information) as to what happened in North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak,” said James Chin, the Asian governance expert at the University of Tasmania said.

Chin added that ever since Sarawak started marking the day yearly from 2016, young Sarawakians have begun to learn what July 22 is all about in the state’s history.

He pointed out that Waddell had handed over the reins of administration to Abang Openg Abang Sapiee, who is the father of current premier Abang Johari.

“It’s a process to educate a whole new generation of young people about the real history. Not only about the federation but also the process of decolonisation and how Sarawak came to be Sarawak today,” Chin added.

Besides Chin and Soo, the other panellist was Adzim Rahman, a Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) youth exco member. – July 21, 2022.