Perkida wants Sandakan Council boss replaced

Kota Kinabalu: Perkida Sabah wants the Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) President to resign for allowing the Oktorber Fest German beer festival to take place in Bandar Indah, Sandakan, last Saturday.The Islamic non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) claimed to have received numerous complaints from the Muslim community over the "intoxicating event", without any consideration for religious sensitivity of the Muslim community as, alcohol is forbidden by Islamic law.

"We strongly protest the approval for Oktoberfest and demand that Peter Hii take full responsibility and step down for not taking into consideration the religious sensitivity of the Muslim community in the vicinity, and step down honourably," Perkida's President Datu Dr Sharif Muhammad Akjan in a statement.

It opined that MPS had set a bad and dangerous precedent for allowing such intoxicating foreign cultural event to take place, on a public street.

"Even the annual Harvest Festival organized by the Kadazan Dusun Culture Association (KDCA) which involved consumption of alcoholic drinks, had been properly conducted in the confinement of its own premises, and not on a public street.

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"Besides, are we so lacking of our own cultural festivals that we need to bring in such intoxicating foreign culture, with the lame excuse of promoting tourism? How many tourists had the said event attracted?

"Why can't we just focus on promoting our own cultural events like the annual Dumpling Festival, the Moon Cake Festival, the Harvest Festival, the Regatta Lepa, Deepavali, etc?" he contended

He claimed many residents were caught by surprise over the road closure to facilitate the organising of the street carnival, as they were not properly informed about it by the relevant authorities, especially the SMC. They only came to know about it at the last minute, through the notice (of road closure) issued by the event organiser, Pertubuhan Rakan Elopura Sandakan (RE). and the fact that this event was held in the month of November, instead of the usual month of October, is also questionable, he added.

"The said event had caused great inconvenience and anxiety to the nearby residents, the Muslims especially. They also suspected that the closure of the road was done without proper approval from the police.

Dr Akjan who is also the president of Pertubuhan Permuafakatan Perpaduan Masyarakat Peranakan Suluk Bajau Sabah (PSBS) stressed that being a responsible local authority, SMC should be more sensitive towards racial and religious sensitivity of the various communities when approving any public events, so as not to ruin the much-cherished-yet-delicate racial harmony among the people of different races in the state.

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He said PSBS will be submitting a memorandum to the State Government after this, urging it to take proper and adequate measures to prevent such an incident from recurring in future.

"We fear that if there's no adequate measures taken to prevent this from happening again, all hell will soon break loose in Sabah, as it would entail other social ills including drug abuse," he cautioned.

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