KUCHING, Nov 14 — Chief Minister Datuk Abang Johari Openg today said the state’s desire for full autonomy was not a knee-jerk reaction, but a long and deep-seated emotion built over the last 55 years.

He said Sarawakians saw a great disparity in the development of the state compared to other states in Malaysia.

“We realise that this disparity has been created as a result of a national policy that is Putrajaya-centric, which puts Sarawak on the peripheral of mainstream Malaysian politics and economics, while tapping into our natural resources,” he said in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly here.

He said the state government was unhappy that the federal government had passed laws that eroded the power and rights of Sarawak.

“We are unhappy that the federal government has failed us in the delivery of services to our people, particularly in basic infrastructure, education and public healthcare.

“It is the infringement of the inalienable rights of our homeland Sarawak and the inadequate provisions for the needs of our people that compel this government to work in concert to correct the wrongs that have been done to Sarawakians,” he said.

Abang Johari said the state government had pleaded with the federal government to deliver satisfactory services as promised to the state, but to no avail.

“It has used all kinds of excuses to justify its poor actions. It has used all kinds of administrative tricks to delay the disbursement of funds to Sarawak and caused us to have insufficient time to complete our projects, and then used that as an excuse to give us lower allocations,” he said.

“Against all these forms of political and administrative sabotage, invisible but real, Sarawak has no choice but to challenge it to do the right thing, and then to do what we think is fair and due to us,” he said.

The chief minister reiterated that in seeking autonomy, Sarawak was not seeking to leave Malaysia.

“Sarawak will continue to co-exist and cooperate with Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah under the umbrella of Malaysia. We are happy to be in Malaysia,” he said.

He said the state government was unhappy with the nature of the current relationship that it felt had deviated from the original spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

“We wish for a real positive dialogue and resolution to our discontent,” he said.