Dapsy had complained to DBKU but no action taken, says Abdul Aziz
KUCHING: Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (Dapsy) Kuching vice-chief Abdul Aziz Isa has pointed out that bilingual signs have always been a part of streets in Sarawak, even before the formation of Malaysia.
“It is a common sight in our multiculturalism society. Unlike some shallow-minded people in Peninsular Malaysia who will only try to racialise every issue to spread hatred in this plural society without understanding the issue,” he said in a statement yesterday.
According to Abdul Aziz, Dapsy Kuching had in fact lodged many complaints to Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) to fix the road signs without Chinese characters to its original form but unfortunately, no actions were taken by the city hall.
“As a good citizen of the society, Dapsy Kuching took the initiative and did a favour for DBKU to fix the road signs with good intention and utmost good faith. Just as if the Sarawak state government did not provide clean water to our inland Sarawakians, DAP did that through Impian Sarawak project. This goodwill might be wrong in your shallow-minded society in West Malaysia, but it is totally acceptable in Sarawak,” he said in a statement.
He lambasted certain political leaders from Peninsula Malaysia, such as Pekan MP Datuk
Seri Najib Razak, Simpang Rengam MP Dr Mazlee Malik, Permatang Pasir assemblyman Faiz Fadzil and Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, among others, for criticizing their actions of affixing Chinese characters on road signs in the city centre recently.
“Who are these bunch of guys to question our action which has good intention when you guys did not even understand our way of life and history of Sarawak?”
Furthermore, Abdul Aziz said the state does not abide by the Local Government Act 1976 and thus, DAPSY Kuching did not violate the said Act at all since the state has its own autonomy and its Local Authorities Ordinance 1996.
As a Sarawakian who embraces coexistence and mutual respect, Abdul Aziz said he humbly urged those politicians to understand the laws and the federal constitution clearly.
He also asked certain quarters to stop making the matter a race issue and instead ‘bury the hatchet’ towards non-Malays and start talking about uniting and building this nation.
“Sarawakians sent their kids to learn Mandarin at school and that is why we can see many Bumiputera in Sarawak can speak Mandarin. Apart from that, the vast majority of Sarawakians can speak more than three languages such as Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, Hokkien and Iban.”
Abdul Aziz, who is also DAP Batu Kitang chairman, stressed Sarawak was an ‘inclusive, respectful and diverse’ state, where people embrace multiculturalism, multilingualism and multiracialism.
“(Also), If they don’t know how to read in Mandarin, please read the road sign either in Malay or English. And if they don’t know how to read it in any languages they can understand, they can just take their phone and open their apps such as Waze or GPS. Why want to make life so complicated?”
Abdul Aziz remarked that the people had enough of the ‘nonsensical, childish and superstitious’ arguments on race, religions and language in the country and the society need to move forward in tandem of the modern age.
The actions of Dapsy Kuching, he added, did not violate the Article 152 of the federal constitution and National Language Act 1963/1967 as the actions cannot be interpreted as disrespecting Bahasa Malaysia and the National Language Act 1963/1967 which has never been extended to Sarawak.
He added the current Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg had previously clarified in 2015 that the State Legislative Assembly had never endorsed the National Language Act 1963/1967 and English was still the official language in the state, while recognising Bahasa Malaysia as the official national language.
“English has been the official language of Sarawak as enshrined in Article 161(1) and (2) of the Federal Constitution and Article 2(c) of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). Thus, please do not simply use the primacy of Malay language in every single issue that is related to language, and definitely not in our Bumi Kenyalang,” said Abdul Aziz.