Muda Sarawak joins Liwan in calling for Pas president to be barred from entering Sarawak

Jeffery Ngui

KUCHING, Aug 24: Sarawak Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) echoes Datuk Liwan Lagang’s call for the Sarawak government to bar Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang from entering Sarawak.

Sarawak Muda chairman Jeffery Ngui has followed suit to condemn Abdul Hadi’s recent statement accusing non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras as being at the root of corruption in Malaysia.

“Corruption has nothing to do with race and religion.

“The thought of labelling a particular race as the cause of corruption is not appropriate to be voiced out in our multi-racial country as it has the potential to cause racial divisions to worsen,” he said in a statement today.

Ngui also urged Abdul Hadi, who is also the Marang MP, to refrain from making such insensitive remarks.

“To progress towards a better nation, racial sentiment must be dispelled. Racism has no room in Sarawak,” he added.

On Aug 20, Abdul Hadi through a Facebook post called for corruption to be eradicated holistically, while likening it to a disease and labelled those involved as committing a huge sin.

He was quoted as saying that the corruption reached a point that “these people” (non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras) ended up controlling the country’s economy and using their money to taint politics, the administration and judiciary.

It was also reported that Abdul Hadi also blamed apathy among Malay voters for causing non-Malays and “liberals” to gain political power in the last general election.

Yesterday (Aug 23), Liwan, who is the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) vice-president, urged Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to censure Abdul Hadi and sack him as the special envoy to the Middle East following the baseless and insensitive corruption remarks.

The Deputy Minister for Utility and Telecommunication also recommended that the Sarawak government bar Abdul Hadi from entering Sarawak for life “as this Land of the Hornbill should not welcome such awful character to our shore”.

Liwan highlighted Abdul Hadi had insulted Sarawakians back in 2009 where he blamed the Dayaks for Pakatan Rakyat’s loss in the Batang Ai by-election as he described the Sarawak indigenous community as “ignorant cawat” (loincloth-wearing) voters who did not know how to vote. — DayakDaily