I was so disappointed when I read the statement by Sabah’s Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun who tried to mislead the public and twist the facts by saying that DAP is “inciting hatred to disunite the people”.

In response to the ban on DAP vice-chairperson-cum-MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, Masidi has said that her presence is to cause “disturbance and a threat to the peace and harmony we have enjoyed all this while”, so, he said, “Teresa is not welcome here” in a statement earlier.

In addition, it is also defamatory to say that we DAP went into rural areas to “hoodwink” the people and incite hatred against the government and cause disunity among different races. It is a totally untrue and baseless allegation against DAP and her.

We are demanding justice for Teresa. The minister must learn how to be responsible and tell the truth! We challenge the minister to show the proof and facts that DAP and Teresa have promoted “hatred” which would disunite the people in Sabah.

If the government cannot provide the evidence that we have done all these wrongdoings as alleged by the minister, we ask for an apology. It is a serious and defamatory allegation!

There is nothing wrong to go into rural areas to tell the people what the government had done. If the government is doing a good job, it is certain that nobody could talk bad about the government. This is democracy! We have the freedom of speech as granted in the constitution to tell the people what they deserve to know! The government cannot just block the opposition representatives from telling the truth! This is dictatorship!

For instance, we have been campaigning for more than half a year to fight for justice for Batu Sumpah. We are talking the truth and delivering the facts to the people in the interior and rural areas which government has failed to deliver the oath’s promises, until recently the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Joseph Kurup had agreed to rectify the missing words on the Batu Sumpah and will relocate the Batu Sumpah.

It proves that DAP is telling the truth!

If Masidi really sincere in protecting the racial and religious harmony in Sabah, then prove to us by unveiling the blacklist. We challenge Masidi to ban Ismail Sabri Yaakob who spread alleged remarks that can cause hatred and racial tensions, as well as Ibrahim Ali who allegedly promotes extremism, as their stances are more extreme and allegedly promote hatred.

Does the Sabah state government dare to ban them? Otherwise it would just be a political tool to oppress the opposition.

To be honest, I felt really disappointed and shocked to see Masidi pin-pointing these baseless allegations against us. I thought Masidi should be one of the most moderate and civilised ministers in the state cabinet. Now it is obvious for people to see his real face and and that he is nothing different from other extremist ministers.

If the Sabah state government cannot answer these questions but continues to mislead and twist the facts, it shows that Sabah is being ruled by a dictatorship. It is a huge backward step for our democracy in Sabah.


STEPHEN WONG TIEN FATT is Sabah DAP deputy chairperson-cum-MP for Sandakan.