Dear Sarawakians, from a concerned fellow ‘Malayan’
Sarawak is made to choose between a credible state government which unfortunately is affiliated to the party currently leading federal government poorly, or an unproven peninsula-based opposition coalition as their state government, despite their promise to treat Sarawak more fairly.
OUTSPOKEN: Hello Sarawakians, first of all happy independence day and Selamat Hari Raya. Hopefully the double celebration has brought a momentous time to all of you over the past week.
From what I read about the independence day celebration, it was a moment to celebrate the unity of Sarawakians of all races and creed, and also a time to look back at a period before Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaysia.
A great many things have been discussed about Sabah and Sarawak over the past few years, such as the lack of attention from Putrajaya, unfair petrol royalty agreement, institutionalised religious intolerance, demand for autonomy, and even the possibility of secession.
From what I can summarise from the discussion, many Sarawakians feel that the source of all these predicaments come from us, the Peninsula, whom you refer to as ‘Malaya’.
Apart from that, you also seem to be of the opinion that Malaya is a place where racists and bigots roam the streets spewing racial and religious intolerance, where every other person you meet in public is a religious department official out to find fault with those who refuse to adhere to the great and infallible religion of Islam.
Basically to many of you, we are the ‘big bad’, the ‘Dark Force’, the source of all things wrong in Sarawak.
Far be it from me to say that the rise of extremism is not a problem. But to paint many of us as bigots who hate crosses, other races and women are admittedly misleading.
First of all, the voices of idiots are often the loudest. It is unlikely for people who have no trouble with anything in particular to gather for a demonstration or a press conference, just to say “we do not mind the cross”, for example. Normal, sane people just go about their life quietly, and I say that there are still many of us who are normal and sane over here.
