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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Why still talk about ‘pendatang’, ask opposition leaders

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (centre) at deputy Penang chief minster II Prof P. Ramasamy's (right) Deepavali open house in Batu Kawan, Penang today. On the right is Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng. Anwar says today that Malaysians are still obsessed with how its multiracial fabric came to be. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Hasnoor Hussain, October 22, 2014.Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (centre) at deputy Penang chief minster II Prof P. Ramasamy's (right) Deepavali open house in Batu Kawan, Penang today. On the right is Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng. Anwar says today that Malaysians are still obsessed with how its multiracial fabric came to be. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Hasnoor Hussain, October 22, 2014.
The nation should look beyond race and all citizens should be allowed to feel that they are legitimate Malaysians, respected and not have their positions questioned, opposition leaders said today.
PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia might be the only nation that still obsessed with its history and how its multiracial fabric came to be.
He said other free and democratic countries have accepted all that as reality.
"In countries like the United Kingdom and United States, I know of a congressman who had to resign for calling African-Americans Negro and questioning their position and history," he said at Penang deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy's Deepavali open house in Batu Kawan.
Anwar, who is opposition leader, was commenting on a recent remark by a Johor Gerakan delegate that Malays were also “pendatang” (immigrants) who came to Malaysia from Indonesia.
"Let us not talk in a way that offends others. Why must we talk about 'pendatang'? What's the issue here?"
Anwar urged Putrajaya to be firm on this matter and not just speak about being multiracial, multi-religious and rejecting extremism.
"This is because those who support extremism are those who support the present (federal) government... Umno and what they outsource to NGOs (non-governmental organisations)."
DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said no one should bring up the label “pendatang”.
He said it was Pakatan Rakyat’s and the Penang government's stand that "we are all Malaysians, regardless of race".
"Don't anyone talk about 'pendatang'... we have never spoken of such a thing. It is our diversity that makes Malaysia unique."
Lim said if action was to be taken against those who used the term, everyone who had made such remarks should also face the consequences.
"Don't just act against some people. Take action against everyone who made the remark.
"We all know where it all started," he added.
Gerakan delegate Tan Lai Soon was suspended by his party in a move to set an example for all other political parties.
It was not the first time the “pendatang” remark was made. In 2008, Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail made the remark to describe Chinese Malaysians who came to Malaya as immigrants during the British colonial rule.
The remark infuriated the Chinese and caused a serious rift between Umno and Gerakan in Penang. A Sin Chew reporter was detained overnight under the Internal Security Act for reporting what Ahmad had said.
Ahmad was then suspended from Umno and stripped of his party post for three years. He has since returned to politics as well as his old Bukit Bendera division chief post.
In May this year, Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman also courted controversy when he described the Chinese as intruders brought in by the British. He is facing a sedition trial over the remark.
Meanwhile, Anwar said his programmes in Penang, Perak and Kedah during Deepavali had to go on because he has "very limited time before his case on October 28".
"If the court goes by principles of the law and facts, then I am not a bit worried. I will be given my freedom.
"If there are orders otherwise, then it may be a long time until we all meet again. I will speak on this in my ceramah tonight," he said, wishing Happy Deepavali to those celebrating the festival.
When asked if PR would give Hindus two days public holiday should it take over Putrajaya in the future, he said it was more important to give the community the recognition it deserved.
"That should be our priority. The public holiday would not matter much even if we give three days, but continue to offend and sideline the communities in the estates.”
- TMI

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