Sarawak can protect Malaysians from ‘toxic Putrajaya’, says Zaid

Putrajaya only talks about race, religion and enemies from within, says former Umno minister.

PETALING JAYA: Sarawak is potentially the best place to be if one wanted to escape the “misfortune” that will sweep Peninsular Malaysia in years to come, Zaid Ibrahim said.

In a blog post, the former lawmaker praised the East Malaysian state, claiming the school system and even public administration would be better with the use of English, while the Islamisation of Sarawak would be impossible because Umno was absent there.

The Sarawak government, headed by Adenan Satem, had last month decided to make English the preferred official language of the state administration, along with Bahasa Malaysia.

The current Chief Minister, Zaid added, was a practical man who was concerned about poverty and who has made some sensible decisions for the people, including challenging the media to help expose corruption and injustice in society.

“I know it’s an election period but you will never hear that kind of thing from Putrajaya. In Putrajaya they talk about race, religion, conspiracies, “enemies from within” and nothing else,” he wrote, alluding to the impending Sarawak elections.

Earlier he declared it was prudent to stay away from Peninsular Malays who, he claimed, were always looking for a fight.

These people, the former Umno minister said, wanted to fight Christians, liberals and those selling smart phones, while Perkasa – a Malay right wing group – wanted the G25 group to be classified as “deviants.”

Zaid however admitted that Sarawak would not insulate Malaysians totally from everything but would provide some kind of protection from the madness found in the Peninsula.

In Sarawak, Malaysians, he noted, would be quite safe from racist thugs whose idea of “jihad” was to fight over shopping malls and enforce khalwat (close proximity) laws.

“In short, Sarawakian leaders can provide us with some relief from the toxic and deleterious politics of Putrajaya.”