KOTA KINABALU: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun yesterday said that there was a misunderstanding on his ‘Rumpun Melayu’ statement because those who disapproved it did not make an effort to check with the actual facts.
“Go and Google it,” he said on the statement which created uproar on the social media.
Masidi pointed out that the ‘Rumpun Melayu’ is a cultural perspective and includes West Malaysia and the Philippines.
At the same time, he said those who disapproved of his statement had failed to differentiate the difference between the word ‘rumpun’ meaning cluster or group and ‘suku kaum’ which refers to one’s race.
“These are two different words.
“I don’t know why it is a controversy. My advice for them is to read about it and to not condemn me … I did not introduce the concept,” he said after launching the Education Ministry’s Psychology and Counselling Unit’s psychosocial workshop yesterday.
Angkatan Perubahan Sabah president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing has taken exception to Masidi’s statement alleging that the Kadazandusuns belong to the Malay race.
The Tamparuli assemblyman said that the statement by Masidi about the Kadazandusun race as belonging to the Malay race is highly questionable.
“I believe the majority of Kadazandusuns in Sabah will not agree that they are Malays as suggested by Masidi,” he opined.
The term ‘Rumpun Melayu’ is only a topographical term used to denote the various people living in South-East Asia or in what is called the Malay Archipelago, which according to anthropologists would include the Filipino tribal people, Bumburing said.
Socially and culturally, the Kadazandusuns are not Malays in the real sense of the word. Politically, they are not Malays either. Umno Sabah has provided a very convenient definition of the Malay ethnicity to include the Kadazandusuns in order to accept them into Umno Sabah and enable Malaya to colonise Sabah, he claimed.
“The most important issue we need to consider is the constitutional definition of a Malay, which states that a Malay is one who habitually practises the Malay culture and must be a Muslim. How in the world could Masidi group together all the KDMs, including those non-Muslim KDMs as Malays? The Umno constitution states that the party is a Malay party and Umno only relaxed the provision to enable it to enter Sabah,” he said.
Meanwhile, Masidi urged environmentalist Dr C Y Vun and Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA) to engage with the authority to resolve the water pollution issue at the Moyog River yesterday.
He told reporters who brought the matter to his attention that the issue was handled by various channels and stated that among them were the Penampang District Office and the Public Works Department.
“Sometimes when the matter is brought to our attention, we find out that they (the project) adhered to all the requirements,” he said.
Dr Vun has expressed his disappointment with the relevant ministry and government authorities for turning a ‘blind eye’ to the plight of villagers in Penampang whose livelihood has been affected by water pollution for many years now.
He said this was not the first time villagers of Kampung Moyog and Kampung Togudon had complained about the pollution in Moyog River caused by quarry operation of a private company.
“In April 2010, as a member of the Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA), I made a call through the The Borneo Post urging the relevant authorities to suspend the quarry operation of the company as it is polluting the river.
“Alas, until today, no action has been taken by the ministry concerned and the relevant government authorities,” he said on Sunday, when commenting a complaint by the villagers in a local daily.