WARISAN: DO NOT PLANT SEEDS OF RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY IN SABAH

Terrence Siambun

12 June 2021

KOTA KINABALU: A Warisan leader today rebuked Sabah PAS Appointed Assemblyman, Aliakbar Gulasan following his call for the segregation of shopping trolleys in supermarkets in Sabah into halal and non-halal.

The Treasurer General of Warisan, Terrence Siambun said that while such a suggestion may seem petty to some, it portrayed the ignorance of PAS on Sabah's unique societal landscape.

He also called upon component leaders of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) namely STAR and SAPP to reprimand Aliakbar the way PBS did several days ago.

"While we are busy finding ways thru various means to assist the unfortunate Sabahans trapped because of the Covid 19 pandemic, this PAS appointed state assemblyman came out of the blue and called for the segregation of trolleys in supermarkets.

"It tells us that how wasteful it had been for GRS to appoint a PAS representative to become a state assemblyman when all he has in mind is promoting division thru religious bigotry instead of promoting the uniqueness of Sabah where Muslims and Non-Muslims co-exist harmoniously," he said in a statement today.

"So I take it that since the President of STAR Jeffrey Kitingan is the Deputy Chief Minister representing the Non-Muslim quota, he must now show some leadership in schooling his Component Partner PAS in GRS by educating PAS as how PBS had done a few days ago.

"He (Jeffrey) cannot say that he is powerless to do so since he is not the Chief Minister or he fears any repercussion from the Chairman of Perikatan Nasional (PN) which STAR belongs to - Datuk James Masing who is the Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak, is also not a Chief Minister but he portrayed strong leadership and had shown that he is not easily intimidated when anyone challenges Sarawak's unique societal fabric," he added.

Aliakbar had recently urged all supermarkets or shops in Sabah to be sensitive to the needs and sentiments of the various religions in the State following a claim that a consumer in Keningau made an issue that a hypermarket that sold pork did not segregate its trolleys for Muslims or marked non-halal products.

PBS vice president Datuk Johnny Mositun rebuked Aliakbar and said that the latter's call was unnecessary and likened it to creeping signs of religious extremism in the state

Siambun also said that there had been no news from GRS on the proposed Control and Restriction On the Propagation of Non-Muslim Religious Parliament Bill to be tabled by PN as announced by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Ahmad Marzuki Shaary in March this year.

"I am wondering what is the outcome of the announcement made by that Minister who is also the Kelantan PAS Youth Council Exco - did GRS listened to my advice to them via my statement back in March this year and made their official rejection on the Bill to the Prime Minister who is also the Chairman of PN?

"Or is GRS playing safe on this issue by keeping quiet while at the same time, hoping that PN will drop that proposal despite everyone's knowledge that Bersatu and PAS desperately need a substantive course of action to impress the conservative Malay voters in Peninsular?

"Again I advise the leaders of GRS to show strong leadership and protect the interest of the Sabahans - the time will come when Jeffrey Kitingan, Hajiji Mohd Noor or Bung Mokthar Radin eventually retire and they will do so without any remorse but unfortunately, it will be our children and grandchildren having to bear a myriad of issues relating to racial / religious division, poverty and incompetency because of the weak leadership that Sabah currently displays today," he concluded.