Insulting article not our work: Pakatan, BN

A blog, seemingly to be pro-Pakatan Rakyat, denigrates traditional Kadazan Dusun dance, attemped by Najib and Rosmah during raya festivities, as one for people with questionable morals.

PETALING JAYA: Suara Pakatan Rakyat, a blog claiming to be pro-Pakatan Rakyat, has aroused the ire of Sabahans by degrading the Kadazan Dusun community’s traditional sumazau dance.

The author of the blog described sumazau as one for people with low morals. Penned in Malay, the post is titled ‘Tarian Sumazau untuk Golongan Rendah Akhlak’.

Sumazau is a dance between a male and female, performed by couples as well as groups of couples, usually accompanied by a symphony of handcrafted bronze gongs.

It is popular among the Kadazan Dusun community during the annual Harvest Festival in May.

The blog claimed that the sumazau was not a folk dance but a dance by the Kadazan Dusun community to pray to the spirit of the paddy.

It was put in the spotlight when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, attempted the dance during the the first day of Aidilfitri celebration on Aug 19.

In condemning Najib, the post said the dance was a “stupid looking dance, mimicking the flapping of birds’ wings” (nampak bodoh saja mengepak-ngepak macam burung).

The writer also took a pot shot at Rosmah, describing the premier’s wife as an “overloaded woman” (perempuan yang terlebih muatan).

“We in the Peninsular are far more modern and civilised, no need to mimick birds,” said the author. (kita di Semenanjung yang jauh lebih moden dan bertamadun tak perlu mengikut mengepak-ngepak seperti itu).

Rafizi: It’s Umno’s work

Najib was also accused of attempting to woo the Kadazan Dusun vote bank by performing the sumazau dance.

The move, the author says, is similar to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s attempt to dance to the tune of a Tamil song in during the Ijok by election in 2007.

The author also claimed that more than 30 pro-Pakatan bloggers have been raising this issue.

In an immediate response PKR strategy director, Rafizi Ramli denied that Suara Pakatan Rakyat had anything to do with Pakatan.

“That is an Umno blog attempting to show that Pakatan is at odds with Sabah people. It even confuses our supporters,” said Rafizi.

PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also released a statement today distancing Pakatan from the website

“While the site tries hard to appear as a Pakatan Rakyat mouthpiece, it is not. I repeat, that this website has nothing to do with Pakatan Rakyat, a coalition of PKR, DAP and PAS,” she said.

“If anything, Pakatan fights hard to defeat the kind of prejudice and bigotry sites like Suara Pakatan Rakyat champion.

“I fear this may be only the beginning of a series of masked surgical attacks intended to character assassinate Pakatan Rakyat, its component parties, with the general election coming ever closer,” she added.

Meanwhile, Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan denied that Suara Pakatan Rakyat is linked to Barisan Nasional.

“It is demeaning. The entire content is pro-Pakatan. The writer should stop writing,” he said.