KUALA LUMPUR: Centre For A Better Tomorrow (CENBET) co-president Gan Ping Sieu said the recent remark that suggested the Malays, Indians and Chinese were “pendatang” or immigrants was unproductive as it could only cause disunity.
He said the issue would only serve to divide the people at a time when Malaysians needed to stay united to face more pressing national issues.
“For Malaysians to debate with fellow Malaysians, (on) who among us is a pendatang, is a pseudo-debate. Doing so would only serve the interests of bigots and extremists who are out to fan racial sentiments and confuse the public for political ends.
“If there is any pendatang issue that we ought to be concerned about, it should be about attempts by illegal immigrants, migrant workers and their children to become Malaysian citizens or have already become so,” said Gan in a statement issued today.
He was commenting on the remark by Johor Gerakan delegate Tan Lai Soon during the Gerakan national delegates conference on Sunday.
Tan, who has since been suspended following a decision by the Gerakan central working committee, had told delegates that with the exception of the Orang Asli and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, everyone in Malaysia was a “pendatang.”
Gan said the term “pendatang” must be read in the context of citizenship, and that it was legally correct to label anyone who has been granted citizenship either by the Sultanates, British colonial masters or the Malaya or Malaysian government as pendatang.
He said the term was unacceptable when describing the descendents of such people.
“The ancestors of Straits-born baba nyonya who migrated to Tanah Melayu during the Malacca Sultanate era were pendatang, but the question of whether the baba nyonyas are pendatang or not now does not arise. Instead, labelling them as pendatang is nothing but silly.”
Gan said he also disagreed with the view of former information minister, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, who called himself a pendatang in a blog posting dated Oct 19. He said the former minister was “legally and conceptually wrong” in his self description, and such a statement only served to fan sentiments of right wing groups.
Gan said any squabble to determine who among true Malaysians were pendatang only served to belittle the contributions of the country’s forefathers, who had helped in the nation-building process.