QUICK TAKE: On December 16 during his closing speech on the final day of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting, Chief Minister Adenan Satem in a video clip lasting 3 mins 55 seconds garnered over 17,000 views and Likes as he talked about how different the races and religions are being treated in Sarawak compared to Malaya.
He said, “The Chinese are one of the 27 ethnic groups in Sarawak – many were born and bred here and they have contributed greatly to the state’s commerce and industry. They have mixed and blended with all the other people and many are fluent with local languages, especially those in the rural areas.
“Intermarriages between them with other races is quite common and many bumiputeras have sent their children to Chinese schools. They are now second, third, fourth and even fifth generations – they were born here and will die and be buried here and they are citizens! Don’t follow some people in West Malaysia by calling them ‘pendatang’ (newly arrived) – we are all Sarawakians and anak (son of) Sarawak regardless.”
There are indeed as many as eight generations of a Chinese family now in Sarawak. I can ascertain that as coming from a family of one of them – the Ong family of Kuching, whose first arrival was Ong Ewe Hai (1830-1889). He had left Bai Jiao in Fujian province of China when he was a youth and had landed in Kuching in the 1850s.
His son Tiang Swee (1814-1950) and grandson Kwan Hin (1896-1982) both eventually became the Kapitan Cina (community headmen) during their era and were greatly honoured by the White Rajahs.
In the Sarawak-born Ong family today, our family members have inter-married into virtually all the various races in the country – Malay, Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Indian, Eurasian and countless others, too many to name here. So too have many other similar Chinese families throughout this land.
In his speech, Adenan also touched on the main difference between those who are considered bumiputeras in Malaya and those in Sarawak.
He said, “In Malaya all bumiputeras are so classified as 99.9 per cent of them are all Malays, and they are all Muslims. But not here in Sarawak, as we have many bumiputeras who are not Malays and not Muslims, and they are practising their own beliefs and the federal government must be sensitive when it comes to their status.”
Adenan had also reminded the DUN that he has allowed the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the worship of the Christian faith among the bahasa speaking population of the state in word and in deed and will continue to do so.
In doing so, the chief minister has nullified and wiped out all those political issues which were championed during the 2011 state elections when the opposition parties managed to chalk up their best performance in Sarawak’s electoral history.
Political hot potato issues similar to this had also included the ‘bogeyman’ target of the previous administration under Taib Mahmud, who still holds the reins of power in theory as the titular head of state. However, he has so far managed to keep himself out of the limelight, thus giving Adenan the run of the state.
Devoid of other major issues from within the state, it will be a foregone conclusion that come election day, whenever Adenan decides it will be, we will very likely see him installed once again as the chief minister of Sarawak, sealing his place in the state’s history books.-The Ant Daily
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