Participants with their banners to reject the alleged proposal to recognise Bugis and Javanese as natives and urge to protect the rights of indigenous people in Sabah.
KOTA KINABALU: The Hak Asal Rakyat Untuk Sabah (HARUS) held a peaceful gathering at the Double Six Monument in Sembulan here yesterday to urge the government to drop a proposal of recognizing Bugis and Javanese as natives in Sabah and respect the rights of Sabah natives.
Its chairman, Joseph Philip said the gathering was to express dissatisfaction over a recent statement by Sabah Law and Native Affairs Minister Datuk Aidi Moktar who allegedly proposed that the two groups of people be accorded native status in the State.
Aidi, who was criticized for making the statement, however, denied having said that the government would recognize the Bugis and Javanese as natives.
He added that it was up to the state government to recognise the two groups of people after handing over appointment letters to native chiefs in Tawau recently.
Joseph said that the Bugis and Javanese were originally from Indonesia who came to Sabah and their numbers multiplied over time.
He also urged Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to retract Aidi’s statement by declaring that there would be no recognition for Bugis and Java as natives and recommended Aidi to step down from his ministerial position immediately and with respect.
Joseph said that Aidi, who is also a native, should have known about his rights as natives and it was impossible for him not to know who they (Bugis and Javanese) are.
“At the same time we do not want political leaders to use race to attract votes or for personal interest and politics. So, we want the government not to use the customs and affairs of the natives as a tool in which they can disrupt the existing harmony, long established in Sabah. We want to respect everyone, we accept everybody, but the right of native people should not be disturbed.
“The significance of this gathering here is that it is also to represent our fallen heroes, who share solidarity with us. Though they are not here but the monument is here, they are here with us even now because they are natives like us.
“So we want them to hear what we are saying now. This is the voice of the voiceless of Sabah. Those who are very far away from here and we want them to be heard, what we are actually representing them and so the fallen heroes are also listening. This is the point of why we are gathering here (Double Six Monument),” he said.
Joseph also called on the native people of Sabah to raise and keep their native rights.
“If we do not want to keep our rights, then who else will keep our rights for us? Do not let our rights go just like that. We get together and get up, tell our children and grandchildren that we are the native people of Sabah,” he spoke to reporters at the gathering yesterday.