‘We don’t need Malayan leaders to preach unity’

Leaders from Malaya should not teach Sabahans what is the meaning of racial harmony as we in Sabah have had the most harmonious relationship, says Yong Teck Lee.

KOTA BELUD: Sabah Progressive Party president Yong Teck Lee has condemned political leaders from Peninsular Malaysia, including from the Pakatan Rakyat, who come to Sabah lecturing to the local people on how to unite and not be racial.

“Leaders from Malaya should not teach Sabahans what is the meaning of racial harmony as we in Sabah have had the most harmonious relationship,” he said.

“DAP leaders like Selangor Speaker Teng Cheng Kim who came to Sandakan recently should not tell us how to unite. It is in the peninsula that racial disharmony is prevalent,” Yong said in his speech at a family gathering of one of SAPP’s leaders in Kg Kebayau near here yesterday.

Leaders of both SAPP and DAP have lately been at each others’ throats, resulting in a diminishing public confidence of any workable unity or cooperation between the two.

“We in Sabah never had racial strife like in Malaya. They have been having it for decades, and they should learn from us and not teach us about uniting our multi-racial societ,” said Yong.

“Here we mingle freely, we eat and we sit together… I myself have a priest and ustaz in my family while I remain a Buddhist myself. There is no racial problem here unlike in Semenanjung,” the former chief minister said referring to the family gathering.

Yong also took the opportunity to call on Sabahans to support local party in the coming general election saying that such a party is better suited to understand local peculiarities and appreciate local issues.

Both DAP and SAPP are eyeing the Chinese-majority areas in Sabah.