Patriot recalls the hardships then and stands proud as a Malaysian now

The Declaration of the Formation of Malaysia on Sept 16 1963 at the Central Padang, which is now Padang Merdeka.

HAVING lived through some of the most tumultuous moments in the state’s long and colourful history, former political secretary Datuk Seri Dominic Dagok can indeed be counted among one of the longest serving patriots in Sarawak.

Being the last surviving member of the Inter-Governmental Com–mittee (IGC) that was set up in January 1963 to draw up special safeguards for both Sabah and Sarawak due to increasing pressure from the communist insurgency and other threats to the founding of Malaysia, Dominic remembers the hardships that followed soon after.