As a West Malaysian, I’ve always admired how Sarawak has much better racial harmony than our side of the country.
On my first trip there in 1995, I was amazed to see a sign at the Miri market loudly advertising nasi babi (pork rice). Oh my God, how could one implement the Bahasa Kebangsaan (National Language) policy for non-halal food? But then I remembered, there are many Christian Sarawakians whose main written language is Malay.
In later years, when joining the Rainforest World Music Festival just outside Kuching, I was always bemused that beer and tuak (rice wine) flowed freely at the government-owned Sarawak Cultural Village. That could never happen at any official Kompleks Budaya in West Malaysia.
And of course, we West Malaysians (known there as orang Malaya) are amazed when we see how Muslims can sit down with their halal nasi lemak at the same Chinese kopi tiam table with non-Muslim friends – even when the latter are eating pork-laden kolo mee or kueh chap. This is mutual respect at its best.
As the late chief minister Adenan Satem said, “Malays, Chinese, Dayak, Bidayuh... we sit together, drink together, eat together and have fun together.”
Racially divisive PN
Given Sarawak’s lovely multicultural setting, it was astounding that Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) announced, soon after GE15, that it wanted to team up with Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Astounding, because the two main PN leaders had been very racially provocative just before the election. PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang claimed that non-Muslims were the “root of corruption” and that DAP was “communist”.
And Bersatu head honcho Muhyiddin Yassin accused Pakatan Harapan of being an “agent of Jews and Christians” out to “colonise” Malaysia.
At least one of them is lying because DAP surely cannot be both godless communists and fervent Jewish/Christian evangelisers at the same time!
Muhyiddin has also proven that his “Abah” persona, as the father figure for Malaysians of all races, is totally fake.
GPS joins reluctantly?
I am glad that GPS has finally decided to join the unity government along with Harapan and BN. Apologies by DAP leaders Anthony Loke and Lim Guan Eng seemed to have paved the way for that. Perhaps they were even a pre-condition for GPS signing up.
Loke flew all the way to Kuching to see GPS leader Abang Johari Openg, and he said it was a “friendly meeting”. However, the grapevine has it that the meeting was actually icy cold. This perhaps could be seen in how Abang Jo could not resist firing a shot at DAP.
“(With the apologies) it means we were right all this time. All along we were right and our politics is clean politics. Their politics is not ‘clean’,” he declared self-righteously.
It was not the best way to start a new partnership.
He added: “What they mentioned was to open a new chapter. But at the same time, they must respect our component party SUPP.”
So was there some kind of deal where DAP would agree not to contest SUPP or GPS seats at the next state election? If so, perhaps this is a worthwhile compromise for the greater national good.
Abang Jo also suggested that GPS was dragged kicking and screaming into this unity government.
“The Agong advised us to form a unity government to overcome the political impasse,” he said.
“We obey the constitutional monarchy and the Rukun Negara clearly states that we must obey the king, even though we don’t have a king in Sarawak.”
Sarawakians speak out
But why does GPS seem reluctant to join the unity government? Its own grassroots have strongly spoken out against an alliance with PN, especially PAS.
Three retired leaders of SUPP (a Chinese-based component party of GPS), including its former president George Chan (and its former vice-president and treasurer too), have spoken out about the fears of Sarawakians towards an intolerant type of Islam. This is like ex-MCA president Ling Liong Sik coming out to say that Umno should not work with PAS.
Hadi is not acceptable to Sarawakians, said Ba'kelalan assemblyperson Baru Bian of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), as they have not forgotten his racist insult that Sarawak’s natives were ignorant voters wearing “cawat” (loincloths).
Civil society has been even more vocal. The Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak (Scrips) said that “we cannot sit back and allow” GPS to drag the state into the “political, racial and religious extremism advocated so openly by PAS and Bersatu”.
Dayak National Congress (DNC) president Paul Raja pointed out that “laying the red carpet for Hadi” to impose religious policies in Malaysia, including Sarawak, will nullify GPS’ own push for the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which means an autonomous secular state where all races live in harmony.
Even church leaders, who normally refrain from commenting on politics, have felt compelled to speak up. Kuching Anglican Bishop Danald Jute said the majority of Sarawakians are opposed to GPS teaming up with PN-PAS.
“Extremists cannot be allowed – let alone be encouraged and supported – to normalise their hatred of other races and people of other faiths.”
Social media was buzzing with dismay, with one message going, “GPS has sold out Sarawak in its eagerness to be kingmaker.”
How will GPS compromise with Harapan?
Is GPS more worried that Harapan’s anti-corruption stance may disrupt certain political “habits”? Those inherited from the old days when former chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud reigned over the state? How will Harapan deal with such issues? Or perhaps they should forget about the past and try to move forward to build a better Malaysia?
One thing that may bother GPS in future is that Harapan promises to strengthen native customary rights (NCR) to land. This will be done by amending the relevant laws and policies, plus setting up a Land Tribunal dedicated to this issue. In previous years, loggers and oil palm planters, said to be politically “connected”, have been accused of grabbing land which belongs to the natives.
Unlike in West Malaysia, the NCR lands are not defined by registered land titles, but were first recognised by the British White Rajahs (from the Brooke family). So land that natives customarily used for agriculture, hunting, foraging and graves were deemed as NCR lands.
The problem has been in defining the borders and some longhouses have been compelled to do “community mapping” with the help of GPS (the satellite, not the political party) devices provided by NGOs.
A simple amendment to the Sarawak Land Code will solve this problem, but that is under the control of the GPS state government. How the federal government in Putrajaya helps the natives with their land claims will be an interesting point to watch in the unity government.
The BN manifesto was quiet on promises to East Malaysia except to “revive the public ferry service (Feri Malaysia) that connects Peninsular Malaysia with Sabah and Sarawak”.
Most of the promises come from Harapan, with the most prominent one giving the state more control over health and education matters.
The Harapan manifesto also promises:
Implementing the provisions of MA63; and
A “Borneonisation policy”; where 70 percent of federal government staff will be prioritised for the children of Sabah and Sarawak.
However, the promise to return 40 percent of regional revenue collected by Putrajaya to the state was made only to Sabah. No such promise was made for Sarawak. Will this change with GPS joining the unity government?
One hopes that any leftover sour feelings from past competition between GPS with DAP (and PKR) will eventually dissipate. And that they will both forge genuine cooperation for the sake of the nation. - Mkini
ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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