MIRI: The state government will treat the Chinese community the same way it treats other races as it wanted to win back their (Chinese) trust and confidence in the ruling Barisan Nasional government, said Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud here on Saturday.
Speaking at Miri City’s 8th anniversary dinner at Imperial Hotel, the Chief Minister said losses suffered by the BN in the May 5 general elect ion would not change his way of serving the people, including the Chinese.
He stressed that punishment was not in his vocabulary and talks that the Chinese would be sidelined in the government’s development agenda due to lack of Chinese representation in the BN were baseless.
“I do not believe in punishing people. I believe in respecting the decision of the people in the election. We should not use it (result) as a reason for us not to cooperate with one other,” he said as a matter of factly.
Taib pointed out that some of the intricacies in the May 5 general election were not encouraging and some campaigning tactics were alien to the state.
“But never mind, we are culturally quite strong.
We believe in cooperation.
We believe in keeping ourselves devoted to nurturing harmony between the races and to continue to develop the state not only physically, but socially and culturally.
We have to do this.” In the 13th general election, the state BN contested in all 31 constituencies but lost six seats which are all predominantly Chinese constituencies.
Five of the seats (Bandar Kuching, Stampin, Sarikei, Sibu and Lanang) went to the DAP while Miri was won by PKR.
On the election results in the state, Taib said there was no “Chinese tsunami” outside of Kuching.
In fact, the losing margin outside Kuching was relatively small.
“In Miri, we lost around 2,000 votes, so it turns out to be not as bad as what I had heard before the election. There is a call for unification and we have to judge what the electorates wanted to tell us.”
SUPP needs to find way forward for reconciliation
The Chinese, he added, had differences which needed to be studied properly in order to work out solutions, but whatever it is the losses should not be a reason for the BN to give up.
Hence, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), which lost six seats out of the seven it contested, need to find the way forward for reconciliation.
“SUPP, please have an open mind and open heart. The Chinese do not want to see division in the community to continue for long.”
On another matter, Taib thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak for complimenting the state as a BN loyal supporter in the cabinet.
He pledged that the state government would continue to support Najib’s reconciliation efforts to help make BN a truly multi-national coalition.
“The opportunity is there for us to improve our chances of success in the future. Please let the election be a thing of the past, and let’s work for a better future in order to make Malaysia a developed nation.”