KUCHING, Oct 8: Sarawak Malays are already a dignified race and they should be congratulated for riding on the right track of race relations, said Movement for Change Sarawak (MoCS) leader Francis Paul Siah.
He opined that Malays in Sarawak were a different breed from a certain section of Malays in Peninsular Malaysia he described as those “who feel they have no dignity left or that their dignity has been threatened”.
This group of Malays in the peninsula should learn from Sarawak Malays on race relations and should never have declared that “Malaysia is for Malays”, he said in a statement, while referring to the Malay Dignity Congress held in Shah Alam last Sunday.
“To Sarawak Malays, Malaysia is for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion and they do not wish to be associated with the racially-charged speeches or the ludicrous race-based demands made at the congress.
“A Sarawak Malay MP has even described the congress as a joke, adding that it was a worthless and meaningless event which benefits no one,” Siah said.
According to him, MoCS had gathered feedback from Sarawak Malays in the aftermath of Sunday’s congress and the general consensus was a total rejection on what deemed as hate speeches, as well as the demands made.
Siah said it was worrying that academicians from four public universities had initiated an event of a racial nature, pointing out whether such characters were fit to be involved in the tertiary education of young Malaysians.
“The organisers of the congress must be told that they do not represent Sarawak Malays or the Malays in Sabah or many others in Malaya, who never harbour racial bigotry or religious fervour but who choose to live in peace and harmony with others.
“It must be put on record that 896,000 Malays in Sarawak (32 per cent of Sarawak’s population of 2.8 million) have distanced themselves from a congress, deemed most undignified to the dignified Sarawak Malay race,” Siah continued. — DayakDaily
