AUG 12 — “Autonomy” now seems to be the “magic word” in Sarawak and with the bare mention of it spreads a certain excitement and “hope” to many. It is also obvious why Adenan chose this as the backbone of his regime and efforts to establish his power here in Sarawak.

Let’s make it clear, I am for autonomy. I am for my state to have the powers to decide its own direction and future especially after being sidelined for so long by our cousins in the west. However, I want to encourage us all not to be dazed by such calls and promises and be blinded from the reality of things.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted yesterday at an event in Kuching;

“A lot of overlapping (of powers) can be avoided, many resources can be saved if we can streamline powers between the departments concerned in the federal government and the Sarawak government,”

He then further promised that this move will reduce the powers of CERTAIN Federal departments.

How are we Sarawakians supposed to react after such promises? Isn’t that what we have been crying out for?

But is what he said equivalent to the autonomy that we are demanding? His words were clearly focused more on the “duplication and wasted resources (the irony)”.

Dissecting his words, he did say that he is willing to give CERTAIN powers back and reducing the powers of federal departments.

May I suggest that the word “reducing” does not equate to “relinquishing” powers. It could be that we will have more power of decision, but decision still based on federal policies and guidelines.

Could this just be façade and superficial reforms in the guise of “autonomy”?  This could very well be just a bait on a sharp hook.

These promises could be very well also just another election fluff. We know the state elections are just around the corner, and what better way to get the support of the people than to play with the greatest sentiment here in Sarawak.

I would like to say that please do not insult our intelligence.

Let us keep in mind who is making this promise. This is the same person who made multiple promises before GE13 and how many of them have actually come to pass. This is the same person who promised to repeal the draconic Sedition Act, the same person who promised no increase of toll and petrol before elections, and also imposed the dreaded GST on us without any transparency on how the extra revenue will be used for the people and betterment of the nation.

I wouldn’t go to the extent of calling him a pathological liar, but how can we put our trust in him to grant us something that will reduce his powers, the very thing that caused him to run havoc just to keep holding on to.

Najib is also at his weakest point of support, that’s why he is clearly desperate to regain power especially in the state where have always given him the highest amount of votes and a CM who fully supports him ignoring all the scandals he is entrenched in.

Could you blame us if we are a bit cautious about it? This is a PM who is more interested is regaining power than the ailing economy and also the hardship of its people. So once he has regained power (by hook or by crook), do you think his interest will still be in granting us the “autonomy” and other demands we are fighting for?

Will we then be side-lined all over again?

Fact is, I highly doubt he will ever grant us the oil royalty we are demanding as it will clearly not benefit his government.

Maybe, just maybe Adenan’s biggest mistake is to give his unequivocal support to the man who might not even last his tenure and not be there to be kept accountable for the promises he has made to the people of Sarawak.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.