In a statement today, he said ideally, the minority ethnic communities like the Bidayuh, Lun Bawang, Kayan, Kenyah, Melanau, and Iban should all be given the opportunity to be involved in the government.

“Not to be forgotten, members of Parliament from Sarawak’s Chinese community should also be given the opportunity to be appointed as deputy ministers. This includes candidates from DAP,” Nanta (above) said.

He said among MPs who can be considered include Willie Mongin (Puncak Borneo), Henry Sum Agong (Lawas), Hanifah Hajar Taib (Mukah), Anyie Ngau (Baram), Wilson Ugak Kumbong (Hulu Rejang), and Sophia Brodie (Sri Aman).

Kawak : Yes, the Dayaks should not be sidelined at Federal level. But YB Nanta should also urged Sarawak government not be discriminated in your own bumi kenyalang.

The Premier post in Sarawak should be shared on rotation basis among Dayaks and local Malays or Melanau. It should not be the monopoly of one ethnic group. The first two CMs of Sarawak were of Dayaks descent.

fernzthegreat : More Dayak and Chinese deputy ministers? There's not even one now. More Dayak and Chinese deputy ministers than Muslim -- Orang Laut or Kirieng or S'wak Malay and/or Orang Sungai/Melanau -- deputy ministers?

Does that mean Muslim from S'wak will be appointed deputy minister/s as well after getting ministership and the DPM position while hogging the CM's post since 1966 in a Territory where 70 per cent of the people are Christian and the majority Orang Asal (original people).

It won't be surprising, given proxy gov't in S'wak, if Muslim hog the DPM post forever just as they have done with the CM post since 1966. In that case, we will not have DPM from Sabah. The Orang Laut and Orang Sungai, for those unfamiliar, are not Orang Asal.

They don't have NCR (native customary rights) land and no Adat. Laut and Sungai means no land. Only Orang Asal have NCR land, i.e. ancestral and historical property, under Adat i.e. customary practices which have force of law. NCR land is protected by Article 5 (right to life), Article 13 (property rights) and Article 8 (no discrimination) Adat is the 1st law in international law.

International law, based on international customary practices, is all about human rights, not so much the collective but the individual. It's unfortunate that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim did not choose a non-Muslim, preferably Orang Asal (original people), from S'wak as the first ever Deputy Prime Minister from the Borneo Territories.

Alternatively, the DPM should have been picked by election in Parliament among Borneo MPs. There should be election runoff, between the top two contenders, if no one gets 50 per cent plus one vote in the first round. Deja Vu! It appears that the more things appear to change especially in Borneo, the more that they remain the same.

DPM Fadillah Yusof and Bustari Yusoff, in digressing a little, are brothers. Bustari, according to media reports after GE14, allegedly fled with RM4b of Pan Borneo Highway money released by the Federal gov't for contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers. Bustari was last reported as the owner of the Pavilion Condo, in Kuala Lumpur, which was raided after GE14 and items admitedly belonging to former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, and wife Rosmah, seized.

Four portfolios . . . DPM aside, the Borneo Territories -- Sabah, S'wak -- should be confined to four portfolios in Putrajaya . . . defence, Internal Security, Foreign Affairs and M'sian Common Market areas in line with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA'63) on Equal Partnership and Autonomy. S'pore, in hindsight, ended its merger with Malaya in Aug 1965 and left M'sia because it was being denied access to the M'sian Common Market.

Other portfolios in Putrajaya may be "irrelevant" as there are local variations in Borneo. The appointment of the DPM from Borneo without election further confirms that the Sabah and S'wak gov'ts are not on the same page on Borneo rights. Indeed, it can even be argued that the S'wak gov't pays lip service to MA'63 everytime there's election.

Muslim DPM from S'wak will probably not help facilitate Borneo rights but help the Federal gov't to ensure continued non-compliance on MA'63. Muslim -- Orang Laut and Orang Sungai -- in S'wak have been sitting pretty in power since 1966. There's no reason for them to rock the boat by rooting for Borneo rights. Fikir fikirkan lah! (just think about it).

Don't listen to what the politicians in S'wak say on MA'63. Watch what they do. Christian, Orang Asal, majority . . . In the wake of the DPM from S'wak, we can be forgiven for thinking that non-Muslim would continue to be denied the DPM post, besides the Governor's and Chief Minister's positions in the Borneo Territories.

About 70 per cent of the people in S'wak are Christian, the Orang Asal form the majority of the population. Orang Asal and Christian form the majority in Sabah. In short, Sabah and S'wak belong to the Orang Asal, notwithstanding the fact that the inclusion of others in the electoral rolls has largely compromised their sovereignty.

We don't know, at this juncture, whether the DPM from the Borneo Territories would be rotated between Sabah and S'wak and whether non-Muslim would be considered as well for the position. A DPM from Sabah could push for parliamentary amnesty for those holding dubious documents under the Projek IC Mahathir probed in 2012/2013 by the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants. Small group in power . . .

Already, under international law, the people of S'wak have lost their sovereignty to a small group of proxies in power. The gov't has not changed since 1966 when Chief Minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan was ousted by the Federal gov't declaring Emergency. No Orang Asal has been Chief Minister of S'wak since Ningkan. Ningkan became case law on discretion. The other related case law is Perak 2009 which isn't applicable to non-sultanates.