Mariam Mokhtar | Learn from Sarawak’s harmony Last month, ‘Papa Orang Utan’, ak…

Mariam Mokhtar | Learn from Sarawak’s harmony

Last month, ‘Papa Orang Utan’, aka Peter John Jaban, the land and human rights activist, took his fight for greater recognition of Sarawak to England. Talking about the various abuses in Sarawak, he urged overseas East Malaysians to sign a petition to be forwarded to the secretary-general of the United Nations for self-determination. Sarawak is not treated as an equal partner in Malaysia.

He told Malaysiakini, “The people of Sarawak should wake up and stop giving their loyalty to undeserving people. I continue to broadcast on Radio Free Sarawak because my people are being manipulated. I cannot bear to see the loyalty and good name of Sarawakians being corrupted. I want to make the rural folk aware, before they lose all their rights.

“The Sarawak Malays have no issue over the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Christians. No Sarawakian thinks that one faith is supreme over another. We live in harmony. In Sarawak, you can find a Malay food stall next to a stall selling pork.”

He dismissed the idea of a Malay race in Sarawak, saying, “Historically, the Malays are Dayaks who converted to Islam. They are Orang Laut, or Sea Dayak, the original headhunters.

“The Sarawak ‘Malays’ are descended from Bangsa Seru, the pagan Dayaks from the second division, who converted to Islam. Some Melanau, another pagan group, also converted to Islam. The current governor is not Malay, but is Melanau.”

Intermarriage has blurred racial distinctions. He said, “We are orang Sarawak before orang Melayu, Dayak, Cina or anything else. Semenanjung can learn this lesson from Sarawak.”

Read more here: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/273294

About Malaysia

Check Also

#Updated The teacher went on to state that non-Muslim students could ask their t…

#Updated The te …

发表回复

您的电子邮箱地址不会被公开。 必填项已用*标注