KUCHING:
In response to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s call for
Sarawakians and Sabahans to think as Malaysians, Movement for Change
Sarawak (MoCS) founding chairman Francis Siah said that he should
practise what he preaches.
Francis Siah
“ If
he thinks that the ‘Sabah for Sabahans’ and ‘Sarawak for Sarawakians’
mentality is unhealthy, then he must also discard his ‘Malaysia for
Malayans’ mentality, as that is not only unhealthy but dangerous in a
multi-racial and multi-religious like ours because Mahathir is the
nation’s powerful ‘chief executive’,” Siah said in a statement
yesterday.
He said that it was disappointing that an elder
statesman like Mahathir is still unable to see the growing
disillusionment among Sabahans and Sarawakians with many of his
‘one-man’ policies, both in the past and in the present.
“One
recent example is his decision to set up Bersatu branches in Sabah and
Sarawak, even against the wishes of Pakatan Harapan allies in the Borneo
territories. Don’t blame the people of Sabah and Sarawak for feeling
that Mahathir’s desire is to see Malayan parties in control of Malaysia.
“In
short, Malaya must always be in charge. Sabah and Sarawak will have to
take and follow instructions from Malaya. This is something we resent
and will no longer tolerate,” Siah stated.
He added that if
Mahathir really wanted Sabahans and Sarawakians to have a sense of
belonging in Malaysia, he should stop pushing the two states to the
wall.
“In a way, the ‘Sabah for Sabahans’ and ‘Sarawak for
Sarawakians’ slogans is our way of telling Malaya that we have enough of
playing second fiddle for the past 56 years. We will have to chart our
own destiny, with or without Malaya’s approval or support,” Siah said.
He
added that Malaya had many issues to resolve, such as the controversies
surrounding khat calligraphy, Zakir Naik, Dong Zong, the Selangor
conversion bill and the sex scandal videos.
“We do not have such
problems in Sabah and Sarawak. Those are Malaya’s issues to resolve —
don’t burden Sabah and Sarawak with them. In fact, if Mahathir and
Malayans were able to think as Malaysians, we would not have to face
such issues of race and religion in the first place,” Siah concluded.
Mahathir
was recently quoted as saying the ‘Sabah for Sabahans’ and ‘Sarawak for
Sarawakians’ mentality was unhealthy, adding that everyone should think
of themselves as Malaysians and not individual territories.
“I
would like to remind everyone that we are all Malaysians. We may live in
Sabah or Sarawak or in the peninsula, but we are Malaysians,” he said.
Prior
to this, the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) urged the federal
government to give Sarawak full autonomy over education policies
following a decision to introduce lessons on khat calligraphy in
vernacular primary schools from next year.
It was also reported
that the Sabah Progressive Party, Parti Bersatu Sabah and Liberal
Democratic Party supported Chinese educationist group Dong Zong’s stance
in opposing the introduction of khat.
The federal government also
drew flak after Prof Taufiq Yap Yun Hin’s was appointed Universiti
Malaysia Sabah vice-chancellor, a decision which was made without
consulting the state government.
My comments:
Malaysia = Malaya, the dominator and imperialist who show no respect towards Sarawak and Sabah. How can he expect us to identity with Malaya in disguise of Malaysia?
