PBB Sarawak asserts Malays are very "sensitive"

MM Online:

DAPSY’s Chinese stickers on Kuching road signs insensitive to plural society, says assistant minister

Kuching Dapsy said it put up the Chinese characters for the road signages of Jalan Main Bazaar, Wayang Street, and Jalan Greenhill which they claimed had been ‘omitted’ by DBKU

Picture via Facebook/DAP Sarawak

KUCHING, Aug 20 — The action of the Sarawak DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) in pasting stickers in Chinese on several road signs around the city can be considered as insensitive to the sentiments of the plural society in the state.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Islamic Affairs and Kuching North City Hall [DBKU]), Datuk Abdul Rahman Junaidi said it also violated the Federal Constitution and the National Language Act 1963.

“The DAP should not drag the DBKU into (fulfilling the agenda requirements) of their politics. They should not have done this (disregarding the sensitivity among races like) in Peninsular Malaysia,” he said in a statement here today.

The statement was issued following the actions today of a group of Sarawak DAPSY members who pasted stickers in Chinese characters on several road signs in the city on the grounds that they needed to be translated for the needs of tourists from China.

The action, which was led by former Stampin Member of Parliament Julian Tan, was also viralled on social media and received various comments from netizens.

Abdul Rahman said he considered the act as vandalism and a violation of DBKU’s rules because prior permission was not obtained from city hall.

Meanwhile, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Youth deputy chief Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman described Sarawak DAPSY’s action as deliberate to exploit language issues that could cause tensions between the races.

He said PBB Youth was confident that all the people in Sarawak from various racial and religious backgrounds loved their respective languages and cultures but, at the same time, needed to be realistic in maintaining the harmony between the races enjoyed so far.

“Such a negative political culture is not accepted in Sarawak, which greatly appreciates unity,” he said in a statement. — Bernama

I agree that DAPSY has gone too far by taking "things" into its own hands. Kuching is not quite Penang yet.

OTOH, I believe the word "sensitive" has been overused in Malaysia. The deputy minister's aversion to and assertion of those Chinese language signs being "considered as insensitive to the sentiments of the plural society" is gross exaggeration. Why should Malaysians be "sensitive" over trivial issues such a this?

In Malaysia, the word "sensitive" has always been used to reflect the dislike of only the Malays, even if the general Malay population don't give a damn. Demolishing Hindu shrines, Taoist temple or throwing cow heads at Hindu temple gates are not "sensitive"??? One Muslim abducting an Indian baby and police buat ta'tahu not "sensitive"??? Earlier (1986), another Muslim chegu seducing and abducting his Chinese underage student (Susie Teoh) and marrying her even when she was 'a 'minor', with the Courts buat ta'tahu juga (tok-kok as the Court's decison was eventually overruled by the then-Supreme Court) not sensitive???

Really, are Malays so thin-skin when matters are not to their liking or convenience? Hang Tuah and his mates, including our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman, would be livid with rage at such a silly self-insult if they were still alive.

Give the above issue the minor treatment it deserves - just fine the offenders for vandalism and close the matter, instead of provocatively raising "sensitivity" aspects pertaining to only one race. It has only confirmed PBB is still stuck in the ethnic mud.

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