Come Nov 29 Sabah Must Punish Gardenia Pas For Making Insulting Remarks

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SABAH must show “Gardenia PAS” the exit door in double quick time when voters cast their ballots on Nov 29.
The Islamist party thinks that the state is so politically immature that you can easily bribe the people in exchange for their votes.
Just feed them with Gardenia bread and they will be so grateful that they will not hesitate to support your party despite its detestable ideological platform.
PAS Kedah state assemblyman Major (R) Mansor Zakaria has nothing better to say than passed disparaging remarks about Sabah which is now engaged in a momentous battle for the hearts and minds of the electorate.

At a recent sitting of the Kedah state legislative assembly, the Kuala Ketil representative had insinuated that winning over Sabahans is as “simple as handing out (Gardenia) bread”.
In other words, the voters there are not matured/sophisticated enough to understand the intricacies of politics in Malaysia.
Hoodwinking Sabahans
So, don’t talk about difficult subjects like state autonomy, the Malaysia Agreement (MA63), 40% revenue claim or other matters that requires profound intellectual study.
The simple-minded Sabahans are not ready or keen to discuss complicated state matters. All they want is food to fill their empty stomachs.
If PAS can provide food for stomach and not food for thought, the party might stand the chance – however remote – of gaining at least one toe in the state, so goes its reasoning.
Perhaps, PAS assumes that since Sabah is regarded as the poorest state in Malaysia, Sabahans are more concerned about (Gardenia) bread-and-butter issues.
But Sabah is not a state – like Kedah – but a region that had agreed to join the new political entity called Malaysia in 1963.

No less than Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said that Sabah and Sarawak have been accorded the status of region.
The pertinent point, often ignored, is that the two regions had entered into the Federation of Malaysia as equal partners as opposed to “subservient entities”.
Mansor must not look down on Sabah because this region is much bigger than Kedah in terms of physical size. It is in fact the second largest in Malaysia.
Moreover, it has vast natural resources like oil & gas (O&G), timber and fertile land for agriculture but unfortunately it does not get to enjoy an equal distribution and ownership of this resource wealth.
Irreparable damage
Just because Sabah is still trapped in poverty does not mean that politicians from the peninsula can treat its citizens as nobodies who do not deserve to have a say in the management of their own affairs.
Mansor’s affront reflects the true political thinking of PAS, which makes no secret of its ambition to unleash its green waves on this land separated from the peninsula by the South China Sea by about 400 miles (644km).

Even PAS president Tam Sri Hadi Awang was mocked ‘hugging’ a Gradenia breadSabahans are not naive. They are politically aware of what PAS plans to do if it ever occupies the seat of power in Kota Kinabalu. They have seen the havoc this ultra-conservative party has been causing in the peninsula with its virulent mixture of politics, race and religion.
Mansor had done irreparable damage to his party with his uncouth remarks just when the intense and heated campaigning is entering the last lap.
There is only one way to give Mansor and his party a good whacking and that is to ensure that none of the six PAS candidates contesting under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) banner gets a seat.

The Land Below the Wind must at all costs shield itself from Typhoon PAS and throw all its Roti Gardenia into the South China Sea.
Sabah must give this Public Enemy No. 1 a good thrashing to send a loud and clear message: we Sabahans are politically conscious and we know how to vote.
Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.

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