Leon Donald, an Iban who plans on contesting in the upcoming state election, said many Sarawakians were baffled by the racial profiling that seems almost second-nature among peninsular Malaysians or the obsession by one ethnic group or other to constantly flex its muscles.
“From the other side, we cannot understand why words are being thrown at the Chinese, at Indians, at Malays.
“For us, there can be no dominant race. We see ourselves as Sarawakian first and then Malaysian second,” the 36-year-old from the Sri Aman division told an audience of about 150 people at a public forum titled, “What’s It Mean To Be Malaysian?”
Leon’s remark appeared to echo Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s stand earlier this year when the deputy prime minister said he was Malay first and Malaysian second.
“Why [do] we say so? When we look for jobs, Sarawakians are always the last to get anything,” he explained, drawing chuckles with his anecdote of Malays from the peninsula being positioned as heads of departments while his Oxford-educated cousin failed to secure a job after returning home.
Leon noted that in the state seat of Belaga — which he described as roughly the size of Pahang — the assemblyman’s annual allocation had been capped at RM300,000 for years, in contrast to forum organiser, Kampung Tunku lawmaker Lau Weng San’s RM500,000 yearly fund.
Lau had earlier disclosed that the forum at the Crystal Crown Hotel here was funded with money from his yearly stipend.
“There you see why we feel bitter,” Leon said.
He said Sarawakians were aware the state was resource-rich.
“We know Sarawak is rich. We had timber — ‘had’ being the operative word. We have oil — we don’t know how long that is going to last. But where has the money gone to?” Leon continued, highlighting the glaring economic disparities across the South China Sea.
“We have no racial issues in Sarawak but we have identity issues in terms of our partnership with the federation,” he said,.
Leon claimed that the perceived discriminatory treatment had caused Sarawak youths to feel dispirited and question if they would have been better off if the state had rejected the offer to join the federation in 1963.
“The only reason why people are talking about Malaysia Day now is only because of 308,” he further claimed, referring to the numerical code name for the March 8, 2008 watershed elections that loosened the ruling Barisan Nasional’s (BN) grip on power, kept in place only by its reliable vote bank in Sarawak and Sabah.
Leon pointed out that the event had changed the way the powerbrokers in the peninsula viewed the two states.
“Only now people are willing to listen to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
Leon was the only speaker from the Borneo side of Malaysia at the talk last night.
The other panellists were Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua; Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh; economist Rafizi Ramli, who is also PKR’s rising star; V. Gnanabatirao, a former ISA detainee championing Indian rights; and Universiti Malaya law lecturer Azmi Sharom.
All spoke about the challenge to feel a sense of belonging in a multiracial country with leaders who stridently harped on racial differences.