Sarawak Chinese federation rejects Sng’s call for Bumiputera status

 

Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations president Richard Wee (left) said Julau MP Larry Sng’s proposal would be a sensitive matter at the federal level.

PETALING JAYA: 

The Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations has rejected Julau MP Larry Sng’s proposal for the state to grant Bumiputera status to Sarawakian Chinese.

Its president, Richard Wee, dismissed Sng’s proposal and said it was politically motivated as the existing policy was acceptable to all Sarawakians, The Borneo Post reported.

He also said any change to the policy requires a major shift in public perception as well as the attitude of society.

“Such an issue will be sensitive at the federal level.

“In an ideal situation, all locally born citizens should be treated the same.

“However, we in Malaysia have been subjected to (the Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera status) for so long that we have gotten used to it,” he was quoted as saying.

Yesterday, Sng said the ancestors of many Sarawakian Chinese had lived in the Bornean state from about 150 years ago, and that they and their families have remained in Sarawak.

The Parti Bangsa Malaysia president added that the “overwhelming majority of them” were born in Sarawak and had served, fought and contributed greatly to the state’s economic wellbeing.

Sng said Sarawak’s leaders should consider granting Bumiputera status to Sarawakians of Chinese descent, citing the Bornean state’s uniqueness in racial composition as a region in Malaysia and not just a state. - FMT