Government is double standard on red shirts rally

KOTA KINABALU - “It is clearly obvious that the federal government and Umno practices double standards when it comes to Sabah and Sarawak and that Malaysia Day on September 16 has no meaning to Malayan federal and Umno leaders. Is Malaysia Day meaningless or less important than the Independence Day of Malaya?” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, urging the PM and DPM to re-look at their priorities as PM and DPM of Malaysia.

PM did not mince his words in lambasting the organizers and participants of the Bersih 4 rally and labelling them as unpatriotic for rallying on August 29-30 on the eve of National Day or Independence Day of Malaya.

Yet when some faceless organizers are calling for “Himpunan Maruah Melayu” or Red Shirts Rally with chilling blood-letting graphics urging for 500,000 Malays to rally on September 16, a public holiday for Malaysia Day, at Petaling Street and Bukit Bintang, and to demonstrate against the Chinese, the PM remains silent and the DPM announces nonchalantly that Umno has no objections to their members attending the rally.

The organizers may be faceless for now but the calls by Umno Ministers and leaders to support it, for Umno members from divisions even as far as Sabah to join the rally, to be given allowance, transportation, food, red T-shirts and accommodation for some, only point to who are the real organizers and financiers.

It is not surprising that many Malaysians are wondering whether the PM and DPM are actually PM and DPM for all Malaysians or 1-Malaysia as in their official slogan or only as PM and DPM for Umno members.

“Can anyone be blamed for asking the PM to step down?” asked Dr. Jeffrey.

At the same time, the PM, DPM and the federal government are blatantly disrespecting Sabah and Sarawak and the disregarding the date of the formation of Malaysia.

As it is, no recognition had been accorded for the Independence Day of Sarawak on 22 July which the Sarawak government had officially celebrated without even a congratulatory message from the federal or Malayan leaders. 

The federal and Sabah Umno-led governments treated Sabah even worse, without even a mention of Sabah Independence Day on 31 August let alone celebrating it.   To compound matters, the Sabah government celebrated the Independence of Malaya on 31 August which has no meaning to Sabahans and Sarawakians alike.

If the PM and the DPM proceeds to support, silently or tacitly, respectively, and allow the “Himpunan” on September 16 to proceed and for Umno members to attend, it will another death blow for multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia, and another support for racial and racist Malaysia.

It will not be surprising if it triggers another round of dissatisfaction and unhappiness amongst Sabahans and Sarawakians with some wondering whether Sabah and Sarawak should continue to be partners in racist and racial Malaysia, which is the direct opposite of what was promised to the founding fathers of Malaysia from Sabah and Sarawak.