Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem has reminded Putrajaya and irresponsible parties to stop treating the state and its people as if they were unimportant.
Directing the warning at the irresponsible and corrupt, Adenan said he was neither blind nor deaf on what was happening in the country and would "knock those who think he is".
One of the frustrations faced were the "lain-lain" (others) categories in federal government and official forms, he told 700 members from Parti Persaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) at the launching of the N8 Satok election seminar yesterday night.
“The current forms stated Malay, Chinese, Indian and others. We don’t want this type of rubbish in Sarawak.
"The Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus, Melanau and other indigenous groups in Sarawak are not “others”. We don’t want to see this anymore. Instead, we want it change to ‘Bumiputera’. he said.
He said that if the federal government did not drop it, he urged Sarawakians to cancel the word “others” on the forms and write “Bumiputera” on it.
“I don’t care, you can write it accordingly,” he said.
At the gathering, Adenan also warned those who called the Chinese “pendatang” (migrants) to stop doing it.
“The Chinese in Sarawak are not immigrants. They have been here for two to five generations, in fact for hundreds of years. They are part of us, who have built this nation together,” he said.
The federal government’s insistence on not recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) was stupid and would result in Malaysia losing talent, he said.
“In Sarawak, we have many Chinese Independent schools. In fact 80% of the students are Bumiputera.
“They offer the same standard of education as our Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), so I do not see why the federal government does not recognise (UEC).
“We are losing talent. I don’t care what the federal government does, I recognise UEC,” said Adenan.
At the same time, Adenan also issued a warning to irresponsible individuals or companies wanting to take over the state’s indigenous land (NCR).
“We do not want any more grabbing of NCR lands and I can tell you, we already have thousands of hectares of commercial plantations including Felcra and Salcra, which are more than enough.
“I have decided there will be no more new ones as we need to protect our indigenous people and their land.”
The state would not issue any more new licences to timber companies, including machinery licences for existing ones, he said.
“The licences issued by the state government have been used to steal timber outside concession areas. They think this is their grandmother’s forest, thinking that I am deaf or blind.” -Malaysian Insider
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