Chief Minister Adenan Satem came into office two years ago advocating autonomy for Sarawak although not much detail was spelled out. Reading Barisan Nasional’s manifesto released yesterday, Adenan has clearly decided to sidestep the topic.
A New Deal for Sarawak, as proposed by the DAP Bintulu Declaration of DAP Sarawak in October 2014 – through devolution of education, health, municipal policing, transport powers, backed by a much higher tax sharing between federal and Sarawak governments (say, 50 percent of income taxes collected in the state) – should be the central campaign theme for the state election.
It’s time for Malaysia to re-imagine our federation with the intention to give more power to the states, in particular Sarawak and Sabah. Adenan, what Sarawakians and Sibu-ians want from their government is real autonomy. For instance, more autonomy in terms of tax percentage.
If 50 percent of income tax collected in Sarawak is handed to the Sarawak state government, the new fiscal arrangement will encourage the state to rely less on extractive industries for income such as land sales, timber, oil and gas, etc, which in turn is good for the environment and sustainability.
The new design will help the state to focus on getting quality growth and also better distribution as more companies and taxpayers pay taxes the better for the state government. In order to get them to pay tax, they have to be helped to gain the capacity to reach the stage in which they can excel.
The taxes shared with the state is meant for the state to manage and provide education, healthcare, transport and municipal policing which will allow Sarawakians more control over their lives and destinies.
Such areas are purview of the states in many countries which practice federalism, such as Australia and India, which Malaysia borrowed its institutional framework from. Indeed, the Sarawak state government used to control its schools up until 1970s.
Real autonomy should still be on the agenda of this election and Adenan shouldn’t run away from this.