SIBU: A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) man yesterday hit back at Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s remark about the decision to set up the Village Community Management Council (MPKK) disregarding the local ‘adat’ (customs), saying that it was the Sarawak government that was guilty of such transgression.
Numpang Suntai, who is the party’s Kota Samarahan sub-branch communications chief, said although the ‘adat’ clearly stated that village chiefs were to be elected by their charges, the Sarawak government had on many occasions chosen to disregard the choice of the people in favour of those who would serve its political interests.
“The state administration has no right to appoint anyone other than the chief elected by the village people.
“However, this is not being done and there are numerous examples of the state government vetoing the popular choice of the villagers and choosing appointees who are expedient to their own political interests,” he said in a statement issued yesterday.
Numpang claimed such practice by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which stemmed back to its Barisan Nasional (BN) days, had led to the division and fragmentation of many longhouses and villages throughout the state.
“These actions have also downright trampled on the ‘adat’ that is sacred and has been practised by the native people since time immemorial,” he said, citing the enactment of The Community Chief and Headman Ordinance 2004 as an example whereby the people’s right to elect their village chief was ‘deliberately taken away’.
Numpang further remarked that the MPKK was crucial for the people to know of the various initiatives that the ruling federal government had provided and for them to enjoy the benefits provided for by those initiatives.
“There is no intention to disregard any of the natives’ culture or ‘adat’.
“Therefore, Abang Johari should look in the mirror and ask himself who is disregarding the ‘adat’?”
During the Sarawak Land Amendment Bill Forum in Sibu on Monday, Abang Johari criticised the federal government’s decision to establish MPKK in Sarawak starting next year, saying that it disregarded local ‘adat’ whereby local communities would follow their own traditions in appointing their respective chieftains.