KUCHING: Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) president Tan Sri William Mawan says Perkasa must stay clear of Sarawak.
Mawan gave the warning in the wake of a recent news report that Perkasa has plans to set up a chapter in Sarawak.
Perkasa is a radical Malay group made up of hardliners who are known to have been very vocal and uncompromising in their stance on Malay and Muslim rights.
Their public behaviour and antics have created unease and fear among the non-Malays and non-Muslims and could threaten national peace and harmony if left unchecked, Mawan added.
The recent call to burn the Alkitab (Bible) by Perkasa, led by its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, rankled Christians and stoked religious tension in the nation.
Mawan is also Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) president and Senior State Minister.
“Sarawak had been a happy melting pot of many ethnic groups for hundreds of years, where peace, harmony and tolerance are the State’s pride.
“Any attempt by groups from outside the state, especially those with racist and radical stance, to spread to the State and disrupt the existing harmony among the locals must be stopped from the outset,” he stressed.
Such a firm stance must be taken in the interest of the State and its people, stressed Mawan who also urged all Sarawakians from the different ethnic groups to continue to uphold tolerance and harmony in all spheres of activity as they had always done so without any problem.
Reiterating what Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had said earlier, Mawan pointed out that Sarawak had its own unique formula that was acceptable to all communities and had served as the basis for Sarawak’s success story. Hence, what has been inherited and proven to be acceptable to all in communities in Sarawak must remain status quo.
Taib made the remarks at the opening of PBB convention last month following the Court of Appeal ruling on the ban on the use of the word “ Allah” in the Catholic weekly magazine The Herald.
SDNU, an umbrella union for several Dayak-based associations, was registered on May 10 1955. Up to now SDNU alone have 103 registered branches and six pro tem branches and more than 45,000 members. - theborneopost
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