KOTA BELUD: Harvest Festival or Kaamatan must be safeguarded as a celebration of unity for Malaysians by Sabahans and as an indirect message of rejection to the extremist views of certain groups, according to UPKO Komulakan chief, Ewon Benedick.
According to him, Sabahans, irrespective of their religious background, have come together to celebrate Kaamatan as one big family in a wider society, and questions on religious rights were never raised.
“Wherever I go during this month of May when we are celebrating Kaamatan, people asked for my opinion on the statements made by Ibrahim Ali of PERKASA, Ridhuan Tee or those from ISMA, which to them are hurting the feelings of the non-Malays and non-Muslim society in Malaysia. Those statements can be overshadowed by the strong unity we are showing during this Kaamatan,” said Ewon.
“While in the other parts of the country, certain people with extremist views try to seeking attention, let us here in Sabah shows our solidarity by coming as one society for this Kaamatan and send a message to them that we reject their extremist views,” he further said when officiating at the Kaamatan celebrations in Kg. Gensurai, Kota Belud.
Ewon opined that the country’s aspiration to be a developed nation by the year 2020 can only be achieved only if all races reduce talking on differences and should instead working on common issues and similarities.
“We have issues like food security, border security, environment, global economic challenges and good governance at all levels of administration which will affect all, but why choose to raise issues on the rights of certain segment of society and create a negative sentiment within the multi-racial society? If someone started an argument on racial sentiments, of course, the other groups will have to respond. These unending arguments will only hinder our efforts to find solution for the bigger issues,” said Ewon.
He reiterated his stand that the Sedition Act must be invoked to take action against those who instigate racial and religious sentiment.
Ewon, who is also UPKO Kota Belud chief, supported the call by the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah, Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan and the Honorary president of UPKO, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, that action must be seen to be taken by the authority against the organizers of a seminar on “Christian threat” in UiTM early this month.
“We admire the strong stand by the state leaders in Sarawak especially their Chief Minister on religious issues. We too must be proud that our state leaders in Sabah have come into a consensus that what happening in Peninsular must not be brought into a culture in the state. Recently, Datuk Masidi said that Muslim and Christian shared 95% similarities and it is heartening to hear a very positive statement from our state leader,” said Ewon.
“For us here in the kampung, we can choose whether we want to spend more time talking about the worrying trends by a very minority voice on the racial and religious issues, or do we want to actually talk and find solution on the actual issues we are facing in kampung? Kaamatan is a celebration of successes and let this motivate us to work together for the betterment of all people in the kampung” he said.
Ewon, who is also political secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, congratulated the kampung for successfully organizing a Kaamatan under the leadership of younger generation which augurs well for the preservation of the cultural identity.