By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, Jan 20: A political secretary to the Chief Minister today lodged a police report against Democratic Action Party (DAP) member-cum-Bintulu Port chairman John Brian Anthony for making a Facebook post on Jan 14 that is deemed to contain elements that could stir disunity among the different races in Sarawak.
Alexander Asing Sadai, speaking to reporters outside Simpang Tiga police station here this morning before lodging the police report, highlighted three key points in John’s post, titled ‘It is worth it to support GPS?’, that he believed could potentially undermine the relationship between the various communities in the state.
Point 8 of the post states that “Natives have been marginalised and oppressed and continue to be heading to the critical stage of ethnic cleansing and political genocide.”
“This has a very damaging impact to Sarawak because it has the potential to create friction and animosity between the ethnic groups, in particular the Malay/Melanau and Dayak,” said Alexander, who lodged the police report at 11.30am.
“We don’t want such kind of posts that undermine the harmonious existence of the various ethnic groups. This kind of politics is the politics of hatred. We must, at all cost, not allow this kind of sentiment to flourish or continue and peddle such political hatred in Sarawak. So, if they have a valid concern, there are many other lawful means to channel their concerns to the state government.”
Point 4 of the post that Alexander found very disturbing states that “Natives are made illegal immigrants on their ancestral land. Many natives have been killed by hired gangsters of PBB elite.”
Alexander described this point as a serious, wild allegation.
“If we don’t do anything to raise this kind of thing, this might spark anger in the community that could lead to civil unrest or serious friction between the communities.
“As a political secretary and as and when we come across this kind of unpleasant, uncivilised post, we have to take action swiftly in order that the state of Sarawak remains harmonious. This is unlike in Malaya, where they played with racial sentiments to gain popularity.
“It is not about winning an argument, but we are talking about the people’s lives here, which could be affected badly by this kind of issue,” he said.
Point 5 concerns native customary rights (NCR) land. John allegedly wrote that: “Those defending their land are considered criminals but intruders are protected by police and those in power.”
Alexander deemed this statement to be a “serious uncensored allegation”.
“Indeed, if Brian has such evidence and such incident occurred, then we advise him to report it to the appropriate authority before posting it on social media,” he advised.
Alexander said he only read the post yesterday (Jan 19) and, after due consideration and consultation with various political secretaries, he decided to lodge a police report today.
“These are three points in the posting that are our concern, and we want the police to investigate and mete out any appropriate actions after that,” he said. — DayakDaily
