Tangau
KOTA KINABALU: Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu (Upko) president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau stressed that the coming together on March 16 of 53 federal and state lawmakers from Sabah and Sarawak, representing 11 parties and grouping, to call upon the Federal Government to withdraw the appeal against the High Court’s ruling on the ‘Allah’ ban is a sign of Borneo maturity amidst the chaos in Malaysian politics.
This was done in three days despite the absence of even a single WhatsApp group for all existing 56 members of Dewan Rakyat and 12 Senators from East Malaysia, 79 ADUNs from Sabah and 82 ADUNs from Sarawak, he said in a statement today.
He was responding to the statement by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Women chief Kho Teck Wan who slammed the initiator of a bipartisan Borneo petition asking the federal government to discontinue its appeal against the High Court’s quashing of a decades-old government ban on the word ‘Allah’ in Christian publications.
She said the petition started by Sabah Opposition MP Datuk Wilfred Madius from United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) had left out the names of many leaders in the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
“That leaves me to wonder why start a petition that claims to represent the voice of political leaders in Sarawak and Sabah, yet left out the signatures of all the prominent political leaders of Sarawak ruling parties?” she asked in a statement.
Kho said she had checked with some GPS leaders who told her they were unaware of the purported bipartisan petition as they had not received it.
She said initially she felt proud of the bipartisan petition from Sabah and Sarawak political leaders to the federal government to withdraw the appeal against the High Court’s ruling declaring the ban of using Allah by non-Muslims as unconstitutional, but was disappointed at the exclusion of many GPS leaders.
“It is then apparent to me that the bipartisan petition wasn’t for the fight of freedom to use the word Allah but to discredit GPS leaders,” she said.
Among the prominent GPS leaders whose names are missing from the petition are Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Douglas Uggah and Tan Sri James Masing, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Assistant Ministers Datuk Dr Penguang Mangil, Datuk John Sikie, Datuk Liwan Lagang, Datuk Francis Harden and Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
None of Sarawak’s Muslim ministers, assemblymen, and MPs were on the bipartisan petition list.
SUPP was also not named as among the political parties from Sarawak and Sabah supporting the petition, but its deputy president Datuk Seri Richard Riot and Senator Robert Lau were on the list.
Tangau pointed out that the success of having 23 per cent of all East Malaysian lawmakers can only be attributed to two factors.
“First, the statement’s pure and simple purpose to seek a closure for a 35-year-old spiritual pain felt by so many Sabahans, Sarawakians and Orang Asli, without attacks or swipes on any community or any political party.
“Second, the kind support of many colleagues such as Dato’ Sri Richard Riot Jaem (MP, Serian), Christopher Gira (ADUN Tamin), Baru Bian (MP Selangau), Larry Sng (MP Julau) and Datuk Willie Mongin (MP, Puncak Borneo), who have encouraged and/or reached out to other lawmakers whom I do not know personally or have close working relationship with. They are the key for this cross-party collaboration,” he said.
According to Tangau further, “while we did not have the contact and connection of all 224 lawmakers, we certainly tried beyond the 53 who endorsed the statement. I reached out to my present and former colleagues in Warisan, Umno, Bersatu, PBS, other independent ADUNs in Sabah, PRS and PDP.
“We could not reach some of them while from others, we got the tacit message that we would work towards the same goal in different capacities. We understand the constraints faced by some Federal and State Ministers and their preference to lobby from within,” he explained.
Tangau said that while differing in tone or specificity, the statement by the 53 East Malaysian lawmakers shares the same fundamental goal of resolving the polemic by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang who said on March 12 that no one should be prohibited from using the word Allah but there must be limitations.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing rebuffed as ‘ridiculous’ on March 12 calls for the Federal Government to appeal against the High Court’s ruling and Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said on March 15 that Christians nationwide should be allowed to use the word Allah, he said.
Tangau added that that they were positive that Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor’s government and Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Abang Openg’s government too must feel the pain of Sabahans and Sarawakians, not just the Christians but also their Muslim families and friends and want the Federal Government to act reasonably, responsibly and respectfully of the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Tangau opined that Hajiji and Abang Johari are seasoned political leaders who surely understand what Sabahans and Sarawakians aspire.
They would know “defending and preserving religious tolerance” in Sabah and Sarawak is hollow when so many Sabahans and Sarawakians study, work and live in Malaya because of imbalanced regional development, he said.
“I call upon all Sabah and Sarawak based parties, especially (in alphabetical order) Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sarawak (SUPP), Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), Parti Demokratik Progresif (PDP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP), Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (Umno), together with Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu (Upko) to continue or start putting the interests of all communities created by Allah in Sabah and Sarawak before the narrow partisan interests. Let us compete on all other policies but converge on this,” he added.
The post Tangau calls for Borneo solidarity on ‘Allah’ issue appeared first on Borneo Post Online.