We fully support the call for our Orang Ulu com­mu­nity to stay united and to continue sup­port our Chief Min­is­ter and the rul­ing Gabun­gan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coali­tion

We fully support the call by State Assem­bly­man for Mulu, YB Dato Ger­awat Gala for our Orang Ulu com­mu­nity to stay united and to continue sup­port our Chief Min­is­ter and the rul­ing Gabun­gan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coali­tion in the next state elec­tion to en­sure con­tin­ued par­tic­i­pa­tion in main­stream de­vel­op­ment.

Our Orang Ulu community mak­es up about 6 per cent or 180,000 of Sarawak’s pop­u­la­tion and therefore it is im­por­tant for them to have more rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the govern­ment of the day. Presently we have two ( Orang Ulu rep­re­sen­ta­tives) out of 222 par­lia­men­tary seats and six out of 82 state assem­bly seats. 

As what YB Gerawat had mentioned that we want Ba Ke­lalan to be with us in GPS so that all 6 seats held by Orang Ulus are in GPS. By be­ing to­gether, the community can be­come stronger and their voices will be louder.

YB Datuk Ger­awat who is also State Leg­isla­tive Assem­bly Deputy Speaker was speak­ing at the earth-break­ing cer­e­mony of Fed­er­a­tion of Orang Ulu As­so­ci­a­tions Sarawak (FORUM) Mul­ti­pur­pose Hall and Re­source Cen­tre here yes­ter­day which was of­fi­ci­ated by our Chief Min­is­ter on 15 December in Jalan Padang Kerbau, Miri.

YB Datuk Ger­awat who is also FORUM ad­vi­sor had also re­minded those who vote for the op­po­si­tion that while their ac­tions would not af­fect the run­ning of the GPS govern­ment, it would how­ever neg­a­tively af­fect the com­mu­nity at large. He mentioned the govern­ment will be rul­ing the state as usual. But it is the Orang Ulu com­mu­nity who are at loss. 

He said the state govern­ment un­der the lead­er­ship of Datuk Patinggi Abang Jo­hari has proven it­self to be car­ing and in­clu­sive through its poli­cies, and cited the ap­proval of land and build­ings for Dayak Cul­tural Foun­da­tion, Dayak Cham­ber of Com­merce and In­dus­try, Sarawak Malay As­so­ci­a­tion, Fed­er­a­tion of Chi­nese As­so­ci­a­tions Sarawak, Fo­rum as well as Unit for Other Re­li­gions, as ex­am­ples.

All these add up to more than RM180 mil­lion and it shows that our govern­ment looks out for its peo­ple re­gard­less of their back­ground. On behalf of the Orang Ulu community, YB Datuk Gerawat ex­pressed hope for the State Govern­ment would be able to ful­fil some of the re­quests put for­ward by the Orang Ulu com­mu­nity by next year.

Among the re­quests put forward include for the govern­ment to con­tinue the de­vel­op­ment of in­fra­struc­ture and ba­sic fa­cil­i­ties to re­mote vil­lages; re­lo­cate long­houses that face flood risks sev­eral times each year; and ex­pe­dite the de­vel­op­ment of a bor­der se­cu­rity road. The bor­der se­cu­rity road will pro­vide im­proved and much needed con­nec­tiv­ity for many in­te­rior set­tle­ments and will open up huge ar­eas and cre­ate new eco­nomic op­por­tu­ni­ties in the Orang Ulu heart­land in Ulu Tru­san, Ulu Lim­bang, Ulu Ke­mena, and Ulu Re­jang among oth­ers. During the function, it was mentioned that Phase One of the RM25-mil­lion FORUM Build­ing is ex­pected to com­mence this month and com­plete within 18 months.