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Media Statement
by Teresa Kok
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(Sandakan, Tuesday) : Dr. Maximus Ongkili's inability to separate ethnicity and religion when calling on the people to define their own race is a lame way to back a lame statement by a very lame Ali Rustam who was trying to promote the Ketuanan Melayu concept in Sabah.

Maximus said, " ..... there are Muslims among the Kadazandusun Murut community as well as Christians. It is therefore up to them how they wish to define their race"

As we are born into a particular racial community, how can we re-define our own race?

How can one call himself or herself a Malay just because he has embraced Islam?

A Kadazandusun person is forever a Kadazandusun no matter what religion he believes in.

How can a Kadazandusun become a Malay just because he speaks Malay and has converted into Islam?

Maximus, as a Kadazandusun leader in Barisan Nasional, should wake up and stop visiting Umno troublemakers from spewing hate politics among his community. .

Instead, he further strengthened the confusing and racist statement made by Ali Rustam on 9th June 2007.

Is Ali Rustam's "it's easy to become a Malay by converting to Islam" snake oil an attempt to further divide the Kadazandusun community by categorising those who embaraced Islam as Malay while native Kadazandusun remain Kadazandusun, thus reducing the numbers of Kadazandusun in the population statisticis in Sabah?

In other words, is Ali Rustam trying to Islamise the Kadazandusun community and strengthen UMNO in Sabah in the process?

If this is the intention of UMNO and Ali Rustam in Sabah, then the policy of using race and religion by UMNO in Sabah will only divide and destroy the harmonious society in Sabah, like what's happening in the Peninsular Malaysia.

I urge the leaders in Sabah BN and community leaders in Sabah to stand up to protest against the racist statement made by Ali Rustam  and reject UMNO for using race and religion to further divide the society here.

Malaysia has reached 50th year of independence. It is time for all Malaysians, regardless of religion and race to put the country, Malaysia first. It is time for us to reject and discard racist politicians from BN, particularly from UMNO, and stand united as Malaysian, but not our own race and religion.

(12/6/2007)