KUCHING, Dec 23 — Sarawak Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo said she is disappointed with Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia for his failure to turn up and debate her on the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) today.
She said his failure to come had shown that Pandikar has not kept his words to debate with “anyone, anytime and anywhere” on MA63.
“I feel as if I am left on an altar waiting for a bridegroom who does not come,” said the long-time Sarawak rights activist.
Soo had accepted Pandikar’s open invitation to debate anyone who did not share his views on MA63.
However, Pandikar declined to debate with Soo, saying that his open challenge was directed at leaders in Sabah.
In a letter, Pandikar’s private secretary Ali Zulfakar Zainal Abidin said as such Pandikar could not debate with Soo as the invitation was extended to leaders from Sabah alone.
“But then he challenged our Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari who is not a Sabah leader for a debate on MA63,” Soo said, adding that Pandikar was giving a lame excuse for not turning up.
Sarawak Dayak Iban Association president Sidi Munan, who was among the over 100 who turned at the venue at a hotel here, said Pandikar should have come to express his views on MA63, especially on the status of Sarawak and Sabah in the federation of Malaysia.
Sidi said he wanted to hear Pandikar’s argument that the status of Sarawak and Sabah is equal to that of other states in Peninsular Malaysia.
