Sabah people against appointing nominated rep from PAS – Jannie
KOTA KINABALU: The proposal to appoint PAS member into the State Cabinet will be the end of religious and ethnic harmony enjoyed and nurtured by the people of Sabah.
Former Assistant Minister of Law and Native Affairs, Jannie Lasimbang, said this yesterday after Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa made the suggestion in his Twitter.
“PAS has been clearly not open to other religions, especially with the recent remark made by Pasir Putih MP Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salled, saying that Christian Bible was distorted.
“PAS has always been extreme on their views, and their approaches will be detrimental to all religions, including Islam, Christian, Buddhism, Taoism, Hindu and indigenous beliefs.
“If PAS appointed assemblyman is going to be appointed as the Minister of Law and Native Affairs as speculated by many, the indigenous people of Sabah will be ignored because PAS is an ultraMalay party that does not enforce or respect for cultural plurality.
“The principles of indigenous culture have been upheld by the particular ministry under the Warisan Plus government, however, the improvement of the Native Court system tends to be ignored as this is not in the interest of PAS. The efforts introduced and achieved in 26 months are far more relevant to Sabah compared to the National Cultural Policy,” she said.
Although the majority of Dusun, Murut, Brunei Malay and Paitan had voted for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), Jannie said they should not be punished by letting PAS to be in the state assembly, especially in controlling Law and Native Affairs ministry.
She also challenged Kadazan, Dusun and Murut (KDM) leaders in PBS and STAR who are very vocal on the issue of Sabah’s right to make a strong stand on the proposal.
PBS and STAR have always rejected PAS type of politics, but Jannie said she is disappointed why are they still silent on the issue.
“Surely they know that the people of Sabah are against this. Is the power and position they just get are more important than the interests of Sabah?” Jannie questioned.
Referring to Annuar’s tweet on the issue which also suggesting for female appointment, Jannie said she fully supports that more women should be appointed in the state assembly.
At the moment only two assemblywomen from the GPS coalition succeeded in 16th state election, making it only seven state assemblywomen or less than 10 percent representation in the state assembly.
Warisan Plus has five state assemblywomen.