Karen Shepherd talking at this morning’s Bersih 4 press conference.
KUCHING: Karen Shepherd called out Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing for being racist when he dismissed her as an ‘outsider’ in a Bernama article yesterday.
Shepherd, a blue IC-carrying Malaysian and a member of a notable Eurasian family here – the Brodies – criticised Masing of not doing his research when he launched a personal attack on her eligibility as Kuching’s Bersih 4 rally spokesperson.
“Personally, I loathe race politics. It is a stain on the nation and the end of any possibility of a meritocracy,” she said at today’s press conference at Telang Usan. “YB Tan Sri James Masing has made this point very publicly because he has chosen not to attack me for what I do or what I say. Instead, he has chose to attack me for the colour of my skin.”
She also criticised Masing of a ‘strange double standard’ when it came to ‘outsiders’ as the state employed foreigners to head major projects here in Sarawak.
Shepherd, who was born in Kuching to a Sarawakian mother and a British father is also a registered voter in the Batu Kawa state constituency and Stampin parliamentary seat.
“Attack me if you must, but attack me for my actions and not for my race. If you cancel out the contribution of everyone who doesn’t fit your racial profile, then I contend that the state of Sarawak would be significantly poorer.”
She cited that her own Eurasian grandfather, Jeff Shepherd, who was of Scottish and Chinese parentage was the first Sarawak Director of Immigration and Registrar General and a devoted public servant for most of his life.
“He may even have signed your birth certificate, Dr Masing. Did he have no stake in Malaysia?”