Dayaks were only puppets to Rais when Minister: Sarawak
Published on: Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Kuching: Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri James Masing rebuffed the Government's Social and Cultural Affairs Adviser, Tan Sri Rais Yatim, who said the State's move to adopt English as the state's second official language could sow discord among the people.Masing asked what had Rais done to enhance national integration between Sarawak and the peninsula during his time as the Minister of National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage."Malaya has only just recognised the Dayak as a race after 50 years of independence.
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"Rais never mentioned anything about Dayak as a racial group during his stint as a Federal Minister."When he was the Menteri Perpaduan (National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage), he treated the Dayaks as patung (puppets) and models for his cultural photographs on his billboard and television advertisements."That was never good for integration," Masing said.Rais earlier waded into Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem's decision to make English the state's second official language by asking him to reconsider the decision "to safeguard unity between the peninsula and East Malaysia".
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"Isn't this a disintegration or will it not cause a split in the society? So, in terms of nationhood, I am not in favour of the state government's stand," Rais was quoted as saying.Masing said being bilingual would not cause disintegration between the west and east.
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"Instead, there will be better integration as Sarawakians can still communicate with those from the peninsula, communicate with foreigners, investors and expatriates."To be bilingual is therefore not a zero-sum game."Meanwhile, Adenan brushed off criticism, especially from Malay interest groups in the peninsula."I respect their decision. (But) I don't care what they say."It suits Sarawak, everybody here wants it," he told reporters at a ceremony to disburse native customary land titles and land compensation in the mining town of Bau.Adenan said he disagreed with Rais's contention that the state government's move could sow discord.Rais also said that such a decision ought to be debated first because it involved the Federal Constitution, which stipulates Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.Adenan said he disagreed with Rais because making English the second official language did not amount to discarding Bahasa Malaysia as the national language."We are having both. We can have both. I am just being practical," the Chief Minister said.Adenan, who had been labelled as not being nationalistic or patriotic enough, on Saturday had defended his decision again, using the words "pseudo nationalists" when talking about Malay interest groups and individuals in the peninsula who have criticised him for giving prominence to English.He said they should be realistic and practical as Malaysians did not live in isolation."We are not living on the moon," Adenan said.The state's Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the decision to make English the state's second language was Sarawak's right under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Sarawak was merely upholding this right.Abang Johari said the agreement, signed by Sarawak, Malaya, Sabah and Singapore for the formation of Federation of Malaysia in 1963, allowed the state to retain English as the official language.Abang Johari added that since the Sarawak legislative assembly, unlike Sabah's, never endorsed the National Language Act 1967, English by law is Sarawak's second language.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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