By Ezra Haganez
PENAMPANG : Yet another leader of the Sabah chapter of the State Reform Party (Star) has cried foul over what she called obvious religious discrimination against the native Christians in the state.
Sabah Star Women Chief, Melanie Annol, in a statement, said there had been increasing reports and claims that both the Federal Government and State Government willfully sidelined native Christians in job opportunities and promotions in public service and government-linked bodies in the state.
In supporting Star leader Daniel John Jambun's recent call on
authorities and politicians to stop harrasing Christians in Malaysia,
Annol stressed the victimisation in Sabah was very real and alarming but that the native Christians
had chosen to keep it to themselves until now.PENAMPANG : Yet another leader of the Sabah chapter of the State Reform Party (Star) has cried foul over what she called obvious religious discrimination against the native Christians in the state.
Sabah Star Women Chief, Melanie Annol, in a statement, said there had been increasing reports and claims that both the Federal Government and State Government willfully sidelined native Christians in job opportunities and promotions in public service and government-linked bodies in the state.
"I would like to direct the world attention to this systematic racial discrimination against native Christians especially the Kadazandusun - Murut groups, the original people in Sabah.
"These natives were supposed to lead the state and be as dominant but what had hapened was they had been willfuly left behind and sidelined by the ruling Barisan Nasional in almost every spectrum of opportunity in government offices," she said.
Annol who is also Star head for Penampang, claimed that in some cases of new recruitment of staff, certain departments were taking in only Muslim applicants and no Christian applicant, no matter how good were they, were hired.
"There had been reports where the entire intake of staff were always Muslims and only one or two from the Kadazandusun natives managed to get in, even that were because they were Muslim Kadazandusuns. I stand proud to be able to highlight this discrimination now before it gets out of hand and as we look ahead to seek a fair treatment from a fairer government.
"What i am saying is the truth happening in Sabah which we never envisaged it to be like this bad. The late Tun Mustapha Harun and Tun Fuad Stephens must be cringing from their graves seeing the unbelievable now is happening to Sabah," she stressed.
Annol also pointed out that even in institution of higher learning like Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) one can see the overwhelming "imbalance" in term of opportunity for the Christian natives staff.
"I don't believe that race and religion were not a criteria when the authority recruit or promote officers in their departments. It just defy logic that now Kadazandusun Christians found themselves very hard to get employment in public services and those once inside found it even more difficult to get promotion.
"In UMS i only see two prominent Kadazandusun names that are of Prof Felix Tongkul and Prof Marcus Jopony among the most senior officers," she said outlining the rest based on what was printed in the university's book for its recent convocation weeks ago.
She said according to latest record all the top seven officials of UMS are from one community. Currently the vice-chancellor is Prof Mohd Harun Abdullah, three deputy vice chancellors Prof Shariff Abdul Kadir Shariff Omang, Prof Shahril Yusof, and Associate Prof Kasim Md Mansur, Regisrar Datuk Abdullah Mohd Said, Bursar Rizal Othman and Chief Librarian Dayang Rukiah Awang Amit.
The 32-member UMS Senate are all from the same community except for one Indian, one Chinese and Dr Jopony and Dr Tongkul.
In Yayasan Sabah too, the natives Christians experience the same thing, she alleged.
"There even cases where long-serving Kadazandusun officers remained in their division two position while new intake without experience had climbed the ladder faster to become the bosses.
"In some cases in statutory bodies, the people there just created positions for themselves. You can even find some politicians from particular community occupying certain duplicating positions in government bodies for reasons best known to the ruling party," Annol further charged.
She also claimed that job opportunities meant for locals had been for the past 10 years being taken by Malayans especially in the Federal departments and statutory bodies as well as Federal-linked companies.
"Just look at the police department, education sector, FELCRA, RISDA, Immigration, National Registration Department, Road Transport Department, and so on.
"Even police constables and kindergarten teachers are now from Peninsular, what happen to our local boys and girls who come out in thousands from school every year ?" she lamented adding that one can see Malayan policemen manning roadblocks everywhere in Sabah.
Rakyat perlu berterima kasih kerana kerajaan adil dan tidak pilih kasih, kata menteri Pembangunan Masyarakat dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna Sabah, Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun.
ReplyDeleteThis must have been written by another of these UMNO cybertrooper who only knows how to cut and paste in the internet, no brain of their own.
DeleteKdm from Penampang
Beliau berkata, kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) menyalurkan pembangunan dan bantuan kepada semua rakyat berbilang kaum walau di mana mereka berada di dalam negara ini.
ReplyDelete“Sebagai rakyat, kita mestilah berterima kasih kepada kerajaan BN yang bersikap adil dan tidak pilih kasih. Semua pembangunan dan bantuan dapat dinikmati oleh semua rakyat yang berbilang kaum sama ada di bandar mahu pun kawasan luar bandar dan di pedalaman,” katanya.
ReplyDeleteAzizah yang juga Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Klias berkata pelbagai program dilaksanakan bagi memastikan tiada rakyat yang terpinggir daripada menerima sebarang bantuan.
ReplyDelete“Kerajaan sentiasa mencari kaedah dan mekanisme yang lebih baik dari masa ke semasa untuk membantu rakyat di negara ini. Kerajaan sentiasa memikirkan apa yang terbaik untuk rakyat secara adail dan saksama,” katanya.
ReplyDelete“Berilah sokongan kepada kerajaan yang ada sekarang sebgai tanda terima kasih dan sudah pasti dengan sokongan padu kita akan lebih banyak lagi pembangunan akan dapat dilaksanakan,” katanya.
ReplyDeleteTiada istilah membuli di kalangan masyarakat majmuk di Malaysia jika mahu perpaduan dan keamanan berterusan.
ReplyDeletekita harus saling menghormati.
ReplyDeleteNon-Muslims support for Pakatan Rakyat has dipped in the past five months due to the actions and policies of PAS and DAP, said the PAS Supporters Congress.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“We cannot outrightly proclaim it as we have yet to conduct a proper study, but one must be brave to admit that support has eroded due our inability to manage issues well.”
ReplyDeleteHe cited the local authorities in Kelantan banning women from cutting the hair of male patrons and the move to slap non-Muslims with charges similar to khalwat as examples.
He also pointed out to the insensitivity of the Kedah government for enforcing restrictions and conditions on cultural shows during the Chinese New Year celebrations.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAnother example he gave was DAP’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s Christmas Day message reviving the useage of the word “Allah” among Christians.
ReplyDeleteHu said while these issues resonate with non-Muslims, they better appreciate bread and butter issues rather than polemic religious or race issues.
ReplyDelete“Sadly, Pakatan has allowed themselves to be entrap by the same issues, which they had succesfully avoided since 2004,” he said.
“Our good work in reaching out to the non-Muslims since our defeat in the 2004 polls may now backfire if we are not careful,” said Hu.
ReplyDelete“When Pakatan talks about lowering car prices and cutting the national deficit, voters see it as long-term goals, something good to listen to, but a dream at best.
ReplyDelete“But ask them about not being able to see a public performance during a festive occasions or not being to let women to touch their hair, they can identify with it immeadiately.
ReplyDelete“Therefore, they are anxious to see how Pakatan can resolve these issues. Over time, people want results, not just political rhetoric,” he added.
ReplyDeleteHu said the dip in support may not necessarily see non-Muslims abandoning Pakatan in the next general election, but questions marks will be raised about their ability to govern.
ReplyDeleteHu said the non-Muslims may choose to ignore voting as an indication of distrust or an outright boycott of the political parties.
ReplyDeleteHe suggested that for Pakatan to corner the non-Muslim votes, it should go back to the basics of its struggle, bread and butter issues.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIt must also address the prevailing perception among sections of the voters that Pakatan leaders have became arrogant after 2008.
ReplyDelete“Many people want leaders with humility to lead and govern them in times of uncertainty. I hope Pakatan can also display humility when dealing with the electorate.”
“A conviction must be there to resolve polemic issues and to move on in the greater interest of nation building and Malaysia’s future,” he said.
ReplyDeleteWhile he is optimistic of a strong showing by Pakatan in the next polls, especially after the people’s rally last weekend in KL, Hu warned that numbers can be misleading in politics.
ReplyDeleteHistory has shown that having large crowd is by no means a victory at the polls for either side, he added.
ReplyDeleteI may not be a Melanie supporter, BUT i can confirm that the discrimination against KDM of chritian origin HAVE long been practiced by UMNO BTN trained top bosses both in govt and GLC..
ReplyDeletethis started to get worst when Pairin first Pull out PBS from BN.. but after PBS crawled back into BN, most of his rakyats continued to be oppressed.