By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Aug 27: Sarawak non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists may consider starting a petition to ban Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang from entering Sarawak following his offensive remarks that “non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras are the roots of corruption in the country”.
Sarawak Association for People’s Aspirations (Sapa) president Dominique Ng, who led an activist group to lodge police reports against Hadi Awang today, said they would consider the idea of a petition which was suggested by Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) supreme council member Ben Diomedes.
“Perhaps we can consider that as the next step. We already started the first step (by filing police reports against Hadi Awang). We want the police to take action.
“And for the next step, we will consider as we go along. I’m sure a lot of Sarawakians feel the same as we do,” said Ng during a press conference at the Kota Sentosa police station compound here today.
The other NGOs also present were Dayak Bukit Kelinkang (DBK), SMETAP Society, Persatuan Adat Asal Bidoyoh Sarawak, and Sarawak Dayak Association (Pedas).
In total, over 10 police reports have been lodged today against Hadi Awang for accusing non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras as the roots of corruption in a social media post on Aug 20.
Unimpressed and upset with Hadi Awang’s statements, Ng and others urged the Sarawak government to make a declaration that Hadi Awang is not welcomed in Sarawak.
“What he (Hadi Awang) had done is instigating disunity, distrust and to provoke problems, seditious tendencies among races and among people of various religions.
“We are not against Islam. We are not against Malays or anybody. We are here to protect and defend religious freedom, and we don’t welcome people like Hadi Awang,” Ng asserted.
On another note, Ng brought up a similar case case of activist Wan Asshima Kamaruddin, or better known as ‘Puteri’, who had questioned the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to allow the use of word “Allah” in Christian Bibles and prayers on her social media.
Ng expressed hopes that Sarawak would not have to take similar actions against Hadi Awang. — Dayakdaily
