DAP Sabah pushes for RCI on Batu Sumpah

The people want to know about their dreams and aspirations after 51 years in Federation with the peninsula.

KOTA KINABALU: Freedom of religion, the land and customs intertwined were basically the “DNA” of the Orang Asal in Sabah and reflected in the Batu Sumpah or Oath Stone erected in Keningau.

Batu Sumpah has become a rallying point for DAP Sabah, the Orang Asal and Sabahans in general in addition to the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) Report on illegal immigrants in Sabah.

DAP Sabah Secretary Dr. Edwin Bosi was explaining why his party was pushing for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Batu Sumpah through the erection of replicas of the Batu Sumpah throughout Sabah.

“Bad luck and misfortune will befall any party that failed to comply with the terms of an agreement etched in stone,” warned Edwin who is also chairman of the DAP Sabah Orang Asal Consultative Council. “Such is the power of the Batu Sumpah that the Orang Asal (and also non-Orang Asal) have never doubted it.”

The people want to know about the fulfillment of their dreams and aspirations after 51 years in Federation with the peninsula, he added. “They don’t want to be betrayed.”

Already, lamented Edwin, the prognosis is not good. “Three words, “Kerajaan Malaysia Jamin” (Government of Malaysia Guarantees) have been erased from Batu Sumpah.”

“We want the police to tell us who is (are) responsible for tampering with the plaque on Batu Sumpah,” said Edwin. “Without the three words, the whole ‘Agreement’ becomes meaningless.”

DAP Sabah was taking its cue from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) which states that the Orang Asal have rights to self-governance, self-determination and right against all discrimination.

To lose one’s sovereignty for the purpose of the 1963 Arrangement, stressed Edwin, was not a small matter. “The 20 Points safeguards, a constitutional document, did not mean much to the Orang Asal in the interior. Their leaders like the late G S Sundang wanted more than just the 20 Points on paper.”

The result, recalled Edwin, was the Batu Sumpah because the people wanted a guarantee from the Government of Malaysia (formerly Malaya) in stone before they could throw their support behind the 1963 Arrangement.

Three guarantees were etched in stone viz. freedom of religion in Sabah which would have no religion; land under the control of the Government of Sabah; and respect for the Orang Asal and preservation of their culture, customs and traditions.

“These three demands were cast in stone, Batu Sumpah, as a historical and legal document and guaranteed by the Government of Malaysia,” stressed Edwin. “The Oath Stone cannot be forgotten along with the demands, promises and guarantees.”

The Malaysian Government, continued Edwin, has been in non-compliance on the 20 Points and what was left for the Orang Asal is Batu Sumpah. “Even then, ‘someone’ is trying to change history by deleting the three words ‘Kerajaan Malaysia Jamin’ from the plaque on Batu Sumpah.”

Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan told off by Orang Asal after tweets.

The DAP Sabah campaign to erect replicas of the Batu Sumpah all over the nation has run into snags with a punch or two thrown in, police reports and village chiefs dishing out summary judgments.

PBRS supporters stand accused of assaulting an Orang Asal in Kampung Mampulut, Keningau, who allowed a replica Batu Sumpah to be erected recently on his land.

The village chief of Kampung Kionsom Inanam, Hendry Yang, earlier summoned DAP Inanam activist Edward Liau and his supporters and fined (sogit) them one buffalo for erecting a replica Batu Sumpah in his village without first seeking his permission. Inanam is in the outskirts of greater Kota Kinabalu.

On August 31, PBRS supporters lodged a police report against an Orang Asal group from Pensiangan and Keningau, led by Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Joas), which erected a replica Batu Sumpah along a stream 100 metres from the original structure housed within the grounds of the Keningau District Office.

The replica was erected after the group was not allowed to visit the original stone and perform annual rituals.

Kota Belud MP, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, has been told by the Orang Asal to butt out of their affairs after his recent tweets accusing DAP Sabah of “mocking” the Batu Sumpah by erecting replicas of it. Rahman demanded that the DAP apologise to the Orang Asal.