KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 11): Despite the popularity of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, an opposition lawmaker has predicted that Barisan Nasional (BN) will lose in the coming state elections expected in March or April next year due to other unfulfilled promises.

DAP's Pelawan assemblyman, David Wong Kee Woan when debating on the state's 2016 budget, said Adenan had failed to deliver on a raft of nationalistic promises he had made like getting Putrajaya to increase the royalty on oil and gas from the current 5% to 20% and return the state's lost powers and position in the federation of Malaysia by honouring the Malaysia Agreement in full.

Wong said this would make the people lose faith in him and in the state BN.

“It has been a year and a half since this House resolved to give full mandate to the chief minister to negotiate with Putrajaya to increase the royalties of oil and gas to 20%.

“What has the chief minister achieved so far on the oil and gas royalties resolution passed by this House?”

“How much faith would the people of Sarawak has on him to lead Sarawak forward?”

Wong added that Adenan should have instead heeded the DAP's call to pull Sarawak from the BN coalition and dissociate his Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) from Umno.

If Putrajaya couldn't be brought to the negotiation table, then Adenan should "reconsider the political union with federal BN.

“DAP openly urged the chief minister to pull Sarawak BN out of the federal BN because we know that Umno has never treated PBB as its equal and Sarawak has lost its position as the equal partner,” he said.

Wong said the tabling of the motion for a review of Malaysia Agreement and the Ninth Schedule of the federal Constitution “spoke volume of the predicament of Sarawak”.

“We can’t pretend that everything is well when our fellow Sarawakians are facing the toughest economic struggle because of the mismanagement of the federal BN government," he said, citing implementation of the goods and service tax and alleged financial scandals involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion “donation”.

Wong said Sarawakians have been receptive to Adenan's open and progressive stand on issues like religion, race, the use of English, recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) of Chinese schools and funding to Chinese independent schools.

But they were “totally disappointed” with his continued political alliance with federal BN, the DAP assemblyman said.

“Make no mistake, the people would definitely equate a vote to (the) CM is a vote to Najib in the coming state elections,” Wong said.