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| Tan Sri Simon sharing his thoughts at the RTD in KK, Sabah |
By
Simon Sipaun
I
congratulate Jabatan Perpaduan Negara dan Integrasi Nasional (JPNIN) and
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) for organizing this discussion on
inclusiveness and reconciliation. You must have reason to believe that this
discussion represents a response to a felt need especially at this time, now
that the 13th general elections have finally come and gone. To
organize this type of discussion in Sabah goes a long way towards promoting and
maintaining national integration.
The
PM was quoted in the press to have addressed a Gawai celebration in Sarawak on
9 June, 2013 appealing to Malaysians to choose inclusiveness and not
exclusiveness in the spirit of togetherness in line with 1 Malaysia.
Unfortunately in the same breath he described the opposition as knowing only
how to make empty promises, bankrupt of ideas, dreamers and hungry and crazy
for powers. This is not quite an appropriate approach to inclusiveness and
reconciliation to achieve national unity bearing in mind that more voters voted
for the opposition than the BN government. If the majority agrees with the PM
the opposition would not have obtained any vote.
Ladies
and gentlemen, the situation is that Peninsular Malaysians have known the same
federal government for the last 56 years and those in Sabah and Sarawak for 50
years. On 5th May, 2013 about 5.8 Malaysians voted for change
against about 5.2 who voted for the BN government.
The
majority who voted for change were rewarded with 89 seats in Parliament whilst
the minority with 133 seats. We have a minority government. Democracy is
usually associated with majority rule. In ordinary meetings decision is based
on simple or two-third majority. It is better for the government to determine
the root cause of any shortfall rather than to portray the opposition as bad
for society because the majority no longer buys such description of the
opposition. In a democracy, the opposition has a very important role to play.
Furthermore,
experience indicates that opposition-ruled states in Penang, Selangor and
Kelantan have performed admirably well despite the constraints by having no
control over the government in Putrajaya.
Inclusiveness,
amongst others, implies treatment of every citizen equally and without
exception. It is the right way to move forward. Inclusiveness is regarded as an
unavoidable national aspiration. Inclusiveness promotes and strengthens genuine
national unity and integration.
Every
citizen will feel that the country cares for him or her and reciprocates by
showing genuine loyalty to the nation. It should be borne in mind that loyalty
to the country is different from loyalty to a political party. The idea of
inclusiveness is all the more relevant to Malaysia because there are so many
potential divisive factors including geography, race, religion, language, history,
culture, tradition and the like.
Distorting
historical facts by people in power does not help. For example, it took the
federal government 46 long years to accept and acknowledge the birth of
Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Malaysians in Sabah and Sarawak have been
cajoled to believe that the age of Malaysia should be counted from August 31st
1957.
I
used to see slogan at the KK airport stating ‘celebrating 50 years of
nationhood’ when Malaysia was only 44 years old. This is not conducive to the
promotion and maintenance of genuine national unity and integration. It occurs
to me that we do not hear federations being formed now, only federations
breaking up. In the interest of genuine national unity and integration we
should focus on our similarities and not on our differences. We should move
away from politics dominated by racial and religious sentiments.
If
it is still the case all government forms should do away with information boxes
meant separately for Malays, Chinese, Indians and others. I believe government
forms such as application for government employment require the applicants to
indicate his or her race and religion. In short let us focus on our status as
Malaysians and human beings.
Allowing
foreigners into the country without proper travel documents and move around
with impunity especially in Sabah whilst preventing a democratically elected MP who
could be a potential 1st lady PM of this country from entering the
state defies logic and common sense. It is also against the spirit and principles
of human rights. Surely this is not in line with inclusiveness and
reconciliation. Government must show the good example.
It
is not so much rhetoric and slogan but action on the part of the government
which will create the impression on the people especially those who are better
informed with greater awareness of what government should be doing and what is
being done. Blaming a particular community for any shortfall is also not
saleable because they know it is not true. Instead government loses
credibility. The government needs to response to changing circumstances.
Generally
people are getting more sophisticated with higher expectation. They are getting
more and more intolerant of corruption, abuse of power, lack of transparency,
cronyism, double standard, alleged selective prosecution and application of the
law and so on.
Let
me make one more point for the moment. The BN government should rule as the
trustees of the people and in line with the principles of good governance. It
must walk the talk.
The
opposition for its part should provide constructive criticisms and keeps the
government on its toes and ensure that abuse of power is minimized, if not,
eliminated. The BN government must not forget that it is not a popular
government. It won through excessive gerrymandering and other alleged electoral
frauds. Thank you.
-------------------------Thoughts shared by Tan Sri Simon Sipaun (Proham Chairman) at a Roundtable Discussion on Developing an Agenda for National Reconciliation organized by Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) UKM and the Department for National Unity & Integration at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on July 4, 2013
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