Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim highlighted the Penang government’s efforts to uplift the Malay community after PAS equated the fate of the Malays in the state with those of Palestinians living under Zionist oppression.
“The use of suspect data to create a negative perception of the Penang government is dismaying, at a time when Penang is continuing efforts to ensure a fairer development in the state that leaves no one behind,” he said on Facebook last night.
Sim pointed out that the state government has upheld the precepts of Islam in developing the Malay community, by eradicating poverty and boosting youth participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
In addition, the state government was also focused on creating jobs in high-value sectors, building affordable housing and supporting the housing rights of pioneer villages like Kampung Tok Subuh.
Kampung Tok Subuh is a village in Sim’s constituency where a private developer tried to evict villagers in 2013. The villagers were given compensation including new homes after the Penang government intervened.
Sim’s Facebook post included a picture of him visiting one of the newly built houses.
In addition to this, Sim said the state government set up Wakaf Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd in 2018 to develop wakaf land (land donated for religious or charitable purposes) in the state.
It now manages development projects totalling nearly RM1.5 billion in gross development value.
Sim’s statement came after PAS, through its social media channels, claimed that Malay land ownership in Penang is only 27 percent, and that the state government had carried out “systematic seizure” to take over areas that were originally predominantly Malay-Muslim.
It drew comparisons to the situation in Israel and Palestine, where Israeli control of Palestinian land started at 1.5 percent in 1918, to the Palestinians becoming refugees in their own country.
Reject ‘extremist thinking’
Sim said all harmony-loving Malaysians should reject such “slander and extremist thinking”.
“For the sake of its narrow politics, PAS doesn’t seem to care about the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s repeated decrees not to play religious polemics and racial sentiments.
“The question is, are Malays, Chinese and Indians in Malaysia hostile to one another as is the case between Zionists and Palestinians? No, that is clearly far from the case.
“So I urge Penangites and Malaysians of all races who love harmony to reject such slander and extremist thinking.”
He added that the focus should be for Malaysians to unite to redevelop the state and nation after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“(This is) so all Malaysians regardless of their race and religion can savour the nation’s prosperity together.” - Mkini
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