QUICK TAKE: Sarawak DAP is feeling the heat because Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) is moving in the right direction.
When someone feels he is being crowded out, he tends to jump at anything that looks like space and fresh air.
That seems to be what DAP has been doing lately, looking at every opportunity to disagree with SUPP, even to the extent of discrediting a fair proposal.
Take for instance, SUPP’s Lee Kim Shin’s proposal to include July 22, 1963, the year Sarawak gained independence from British colonial rule, into the history textbooks in schools.
Sibu MP Oscar Ling called the proposal “ironic” just because Lee did not also propose the same be done for Sept 16, 1963, the year Malaysia was formed.
“The government did not even include the date of the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963 in the history textbooks. Now SUPP is calling for the inclusion of the date of Sarawak independence. Isn’t this ironic?” Ling was quoted as saying.
If an irony has indeed arisen, it is in this admission of failure on Ling’s part: “I have brought up this issue (inclusion of the formation of Malaysia) on several occasions but the relevant authorities have yet to respond upon the matter.”
It is as if he was saying: Do it, let’s see if you are better than me!
Lee’s concern, however, is July 22, 1963. His proposal is based on a popular call of Sarawakians, how can it be ironic?
Sarawakians want July 22 to be celebrated on a yearly basis and that it be declared a public holiday by the state government.
Sarawakians know too well that while they are agreed that July 22 has great significance to them, it may not carry the same degree of significance to other Malaysians.
July 22 certainly does not mean as much to the federal government, surely not as much as Sept 16, and it is for this reason that Sarawakians call on the state government to declare it a public holiday for Sarawak – in the hope that Putrajaya would, in time, see its significance the way we do.
Lee’s proposal is in line with that call. It is fair and proper, and is in no way defective even without him asking Sept 16 to be treated the same.
The Sibu MP is not the only DAP elected representative seeing dark shadows and feeling afraid; his Lanang neighbour Alice Lau is imagining things and looking over her shoulder.
So afraid is she that she even forgets that DAP is a Malaya-based party and wants SUPP to stop giving DAP that label.
“Let us put the record straight once and for all – DAP is a national party, not a Peninsular Malaysian one. Its interest is to serve all Malaysians.”
None should deny DAP’s right to want to serve “all Malaysians”. It has every right to want to serve and be seen to serve “all Malaysians”.
But let us put the record straight, DAP is a national party based in Malaya like PKR is a national party based in Malaya and PAS, another national party, also based in Malaya – unlike SUPP, which is a Sarawak party based in Sarawak.
No irony there; just plain fact.
It is also a fact that SUPP was, as Lau puts it, “a lame duck party after so many years being a partner of the ruling BN government in the state”.
But not anymore, not since Professor Dr Sim Kui Hian took over as president.
Sim is making all the difference; Ling, Lau and DAP know this, which is why they can’t help but to go on the offensive, before it’s too late.-The Ant Daily
Post a Comment