Kuching: I wish to respond to the recent remarks by the President of Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK), Mr Voon Li Shan, questioning the legality of parliamentary service centres using federal government symbols.
First and foremost, YB Kelvin Yii is both a leader of a political party and a representative of the federal government, serving in accordance with the federal government’s policies and initiatives.
The people of Kuching, as well as supporters of DAP Sarawak are well aware of the existence and long-standing operation of the Bandar Kuching Parliamentary Service Centre, which is located in the same building as the DAP Sarawak headquarters.
A parliamentary service centre is not an ordinary party office.
It is a platform through which elected representatives carry out their duties – assisting constituents in dealing with government agencies, addressing public service matters, and conveying the voices of the people.
To deliberately ignore this reality and label such a centre as merely a “party apparatus” is a political narrative that does not reflect how parliamentary democracy actually functions.
Mr Voon repeatedly invokes the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1963, yet does so through selective interpretation.
The original intent of this law is to prevent national emblems and official symbols from being misused for commercial gain, fraud, or public deception, not to suppress legitimate, non-commercial public service platforms that serve the people and fall under the responsibility of a government-elected representative.
On top of the service rendered to the people, since being elected as government MPs, DAP Sarawak MPs have all declared the usage of federal allocations in their constituency annually in the spirit of transparency and accountability, an initiative not practised by many other ADUNs and MPs in other parties even here in Sarawak, even though they receive much more allocations, mainly from State Government.
So instead of questioning the official emblem on the signboard of our service centre, maybe he should support DAP Sarawak’s initiative to be transparent in the federal allocations, as well as our demand to all other MPs and ADUNs to declare how their constituency development funds are being spent, especially here in Sarawak.
On top of that, as the President of a political party that has contested in both parliamentary and state elections, how has their party served the general public?
To this day, many members of the public are unaware of where the PBK service centre is located, if it exists at all, and there has been little evidence of consistent service, advocacy, or meaningful engagement with the people by his party.
Politics, in my view, is not about who plays on petty rhetoric, but about who stands with the people consistently and delivers long-term service. The existence and effectiveness of a service centre are things the people can see and feel for themselves.
DAP Sarawak welcomes rational scrutiny and does not shy away from accountability. Even though we also suffered losses in the election, it did not stop our resolve to serve the people.
George Lam
Special Assistant to Bandar Kuching MP YB Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen
13 January 2026
