KOTA KINABALU: A politician is not the best candidate to head an association which is supposed to fight for the rights of its members, said Sabah DAP secretary Dr Edwin Bosi.
A case in hand is the recently formed Sabah Sino-Native Association which is headed by Inanam assemblyman Datuk Johnny Goh.
“Sabah DAP has nothing against Jimmy Goh, the PBS-BN assemblyman for Inanam to be the president but a politician helming such organisation will be compromised by his political leanings and the wishes of his political masters. In due time we will be able to realise this.
“The Huguan Siou and KDCA have already made it clear that the case of DAP Sri Tanjung representative’s native certificate is his personal matter even though at all times Jimmy Wong is a lawful Sino-Kadazan issued properly with a native certificate.
“At least we know where KDCA and Huguan Siou stand on this matter. For the Kadazan Society of Sabah (KSS), it has gone into silent mode since the issue came about. Sabah DAP now wants to know what is Sabah Sino-Native Association’s stance on this matter? Sabah DAP hopes that Goh and his new association will be on Jimmy’s side,” Bosi said in a statement yesterday.
Bosi pointed out that with the freezing by the government on the issuance of native certificates since 1982, how will the Sabah Sino-Native Association be recruiting its members?
According to him, applicants must provide the native certificate as proof of their identity. Thus, by right, one of their main objectives should be to pressure Umno and BN government to immediately lift the freeze on the issuance of the native certificate.
Secondly, he opined the association must ensure that the government does not “control” the native court.
“We have seen positive comments coming even from BN-LDP president V K Liew stating that it was unconstitutional to deprive these Sino-Natives their rights to native certificates and identity,” he said, adding that the rights of the Sino-Natives have been violated all along by the government.
Sabah DAP, he added, would like to thank the two Umno representatives, Datuk Samsudin Yahya and Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor, for raising the issue on Wong’s native certificate.