Madius dares Zahid on pledge
Published on: Tuesday, January 14, 2020
By: Hayati Dzulkifli
MEMBAKUT: Barisan Nasional Chairman cum Umno President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who recently swore to give back 100pc Sabah rights as stated in the MA63 (Malaysia Agreement) should Barisan Nasional return to power in the next general election, must then be ready to return one of Sabah’s original rights that there must be no official State religion.
Upko President Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said he wonders whether Zahid truly understands the content of Sabah rights in the MA63 and whether BN/Umno want to return this right to the people of Sabah.
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He said Zahid should not simply take lightly the MA63 matters or indiscriminately messing with it that could backfire on the coalition (BN).
“Zahid is a friend of mine and I advise him to be careful over what he has vowed because one of Sabah’s rights in MA63 is what Sabah people really hold on to and sensitive to us, which is for Sabah not to have an official religion.
“Is Umno willing to return this right to us? In Sarawak, that State has no official religion because that is what was stated in the MA63 which our past leaders had agreed upon when forming Malaysia,” he said. [The stipulation of no official religion was removed by the Usno administration].
Tangau who is also Deputy Chief Minister said during campaign rounds at the residence of an Upko member. Some 700 Upko members attended the talk.
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He also received Upko new memberships from over 200 people from opposition parties to the party (Upko). Upko Kimanis has about 1,300 members and were urged to cast their votes for Warisan candidate Datuk Karim Bujang on Jan 18.
Also present were Law Minister cum Warisan Permanent Chairman Datuk V.K. Liew, Warisan candidate Datuk Karim Bujang, Upko main committee, its Supreme Council members, DAP Sandakan MP Vivien Wong and other leaders from component parties of Pakatan Harapan (PH).
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Tangau called on Upko members and voters in Kimanis by-election not to perceive Zahid as a hero who fights for Sabah rights under MA63.
“When Zahid comes again anywhere in Kimanis parliamentary seat, ask him whether he has studied and understands the MA63. This is because content and ideas in the MA63 are based on the memorandum of 20 Points which were the first Sabah rights and were included in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) and also in the State Constitution.
“However, the State Constitution had been amended in 1973 (State’s official religion is Islam). Nonetheless, we would thank if he or BN/Umno would really do it (fully return 100 per cent Sabah rights as stated in the MA63). But again if they really do it, what will Umno’s new wife, PAS have to say,” he said.
The people in the peninsula, Tangau said, are quite strange because Muslims are not allowed to wish Merry Christmas to Christian friends or relatives and not allowed to send Christmas cards when for the Sabahans these things never crossed their minds. It is a practice and norm for Sabah people to wish Merry Christmas to those celebrating and vice versa for those Muslims and Chinese getting wishes for Hari Raya and Gong Xi Fa Cai, respectively, from Christians.
Hence, he said, it is vital for Sabah people to reject parties that adopt racial politics like Umno that gives priority to Malays.
“Umno gives emphasis to Malay supremacy and any Umno member who wishes to contest as branch head must sound racial like saying Chinese is an immigrant and about other races or he or she will not be considered a hero.
“And if any Umno leader wishes to contest the Supreme Council or Vice-President post, he or she must show heroic acts by rejecting applications from other races,” he said, and recalled an incident when he was in the peninsula.
“I was there to study and very young where I remembered Tun Musa Hitam contested for the party Vice-President and was the Education Minister. His mother is a Chinese while his father is a Malay.
“At that time, there were only public universities and there was no private high learning institution. Hence there was an application from the Chinese to set up a ‘University Merdeka’ and he as Education Minister must consider whether to approve or not.
“At that time, a week before Umno polls, Musa rejected the application and became a hero and won the vice-president’s post. This is the racial politics of Umno and such political culture must not be brought to Sabah,” Tangau said.
He said another incident was in 2006 when squatters of Sri Tanjung near the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) were to be relocated to Kg Maang, Penampang, where they staged a demonstration to object the BN/Umno State government decision.
He said Tan Sri Bernard Dompok who was the Penampang MP and Datuk Philip Lasimbang who was the Moyog assemblyman were not contacted or referred to when the Umno-led State Government made the decision.
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