Sabahans against inclusion of PAS in assembly – Liew
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah PKR chief Datuk Christina Liew strongly opposes the proposal to appoint a PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia) representative to the State Legislative Assembly and government.
PAS is an Islamist political party in Malaysia and is currently a member party of the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
Liew stressed that the proposal to include a PAS representative in the State Legislature and government is not acceptable to the people, given that Sabah is an exemplary Malaysian state for multi-racial, inter-religious and multi-cultural harmony where peaceful co-existence has been the hallmark of our lives.
"The people of Sabah embrace the principle of moderation and concept of unity in diversity, as opposed to the political culture of divisiveness which potentially causes racial discord.
"We denounce any political ideology that is in conflict with multiculturalism (as a political philosophy), and cannot accept any brand of politics that smacks of extremism.
"The people reject outright the proposed inclusion of a PAS representative in the Sabah State Assembly as the move would hurt the multi-cultural character of the state.
"We pride ourselves on preserving unity among lawabiding and peace-loving Malaysians in Sabah," Liew, who was re-elected Api Api assemblywoman for the third consecutive term, said in a statement yesterday.
She was commenting on Selangor PAS leader Roslan Shahir Mohd Shahir's statement on Friday that the party was qualified to get a nominated assemblyman spot in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly and government.
A day earlier (Thursday), BN secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa had said he expected PAS to receive at least one of the six nominated assemblyman spots available to the State government.
Expressing grave concern, Liew, who is a former Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, noted that the people's non-acceptance is reflected in an ongoing petition to the Sabah Government, dubbed "PAS IS NOT ALLOWED IN SABAH CABINET".
The signature campaign was initiated three days ago by the "Better Sabah" group, and hopes to hit the 25,000 mark.
Liew further contended that PAS did not contest any seat in the recently-concluded 16th State election, and neither had it ever won an election in Sabah.
"PAS's repeated loss in previous elections in Sabah is viewed as a clear-cut rejection of the party by the people," she said.