TAMPARULI: Sabah Pakatan Harapan components Upko and DAP hit out at the recent “Proclamation of the Malays” involving former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir and enemy-turned-comrade PAS President Datuk Hadi Awang, saying only the “proclamation of Malaysia” matters.
United Kinabalu Progressive Organization (Upko) President Datuk Ewon Benedick said the party defended the Malaysia Proclamation and there should not be another proclamation that is racist.
“This should not happen because we only have one proclamation, i.e. the Malaysia Proclamation and this is an important document on the declaration of the establishment of Malaysia,” he said, after officiating the Upko Kaamatan and the closing of the Carnival of Entrepreneurs and Civil Cooperatives at the Tun Hamdan Tamparuli Hall, Sunday.
Ewon, who is also State Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Minister, said if all races want to make a proclamation, it would impact on racial unity in this country which is multi-racial and religious.
SPONSORED CONTENT Carlsberg gets inked to celebrate pride of Sabah, Sarawak SHAH ALAM: Carlsberg Smooth Draught returns to celebrate Sabahan and Sarawakian pride for the third consecutive year with artful traditional tattooing designs of six beautiful icons from the Borneo islands. Read more “It is not easy to manage the diversity of races and religions in this country. Sabah has long been an example of racial and religious harmony and needs to defend the Malaysia Proclamation,” he said.
“We want Sabah to defend what State leaders signed in 1963, which was the Malaysia Agreement, and after the Malaysia Agreement, the proclamation of Malaysia was made as a declaration of establishment.
This is what we must defend and implement,” said Ewon, who is also a Member of Parliament for Penampang and Kadamaian Assemblyman. Sabah DAP delegates after the conference.
DAP National Organisation Assistant Secretary Khoo Poay Tiong said the “Malay Proclamation” defeats the whole idea of Malaysia as a multiracial country. “There is a difference between the Unity Government and the other side.
“We talk about diversity, they only talk about Malays when Malaysia is a multiracial and multireligious community from various backgrounds,” he told a press conference after officiating the Sabah DAP annual convention at SM Kian Kok, Sunday.
He said the former PM’s actions is not healthy for the future development of multiracial Malaysia.
“Diversity should be an asset for our country, we have to help everyone regardless of race, we want to eradicate the hardcore poor, regardless of race, as long as they are Malaysians we help, unlike them who only focus on Malays.
“We know they only use this as their weapon because they have been in the government and what have they done? They know very well that they need to take care of everyone and not only one race.”
He said six states would be having their state elections very soon and the Malay Proclamation is a weapon to ensure they win.
“They use racial sentiments which is not healthy and we need to reject this,” he said.
On another matter, Khoo noted DAP’s smooth transition from opposition to government.
“We can see progress and improvement compared to 2018, when we first time became part of the government, we saw quite a lot of problems, possibly due to our mindset at that time.
But now, under the Unity Government which is made up of different coalitions (BN, GPS, GRS, Pakatan Harapan and Warisan), we can see that we are very united and a lot of policy, when announced, gets support from all the top leaders.
Now we can see perfect convergence among top leaders and this is also what we need to achieve at grassroots level, we need time to let those at grassroots work together and to know each other.
“Perhaps last time they (grassroots) did not know each other but now after a year, I can see very positive progress,” he said.
He said all the 148 MPs in the Unity Government are united and are able to discuss and resolve many issues.
“There are differences in opinion, but we are still able to resolve it for the sake of the people and the nation.
The Unity Government is formed because we want to ensure political stability for the sake of the people and the country.
Prior to the 15th General Election, our stability is not there and it had a bad impact on everyone, the people suffer, investors do not want to come and the economy dropped.
“Now that the Unity Government is formed, we need to focus on maintaining the unity without sacrificing our principles.
Today, many policies have been introduced based on the needs of the people regardless of race. One of our goals is to eradicate hardcore poverty regardless of race,” he said.
On another matter, he said DAP aims to regain the Sri Tanjong and Elopura seats by continuing to serve the people. “Although we no longer have these two seats, we will continue to serve the people and maintain their support for DAP,” said Khoo.
The two seats were won by DAP assemblymen, Justin Wong and Calvin Chong, respectively, who quit the party to become independents in the State Legislative Assembly before deciding to join Parti Warisan last year.
He said the seats were won by DAP and they will continue to treat it as DAP seats. Also present were Sabah DAP Chief Datuk Frankie Poon, among others.
* Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss.
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.