Update: Why so racist?

Hadi should be forgiven for ‘cawat’ remarks: Adit
By Churchill Edward

KUCHING: A member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) State Leaders’ Council said yesterday that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang should be forgiven for uttering the degrading ‘cawat’ remarks which had offended the Dayaks.


Gabriel Adit, the assemblyman for Ngemah, said if indeed Hadi had uttered such remarks, he should be informed of the truth and facts about Sarawak.

Adit added: “If he had said it (cawat), then he should be forgiven for his ignorance because he (Hadi) did not know what he was talking about. Forgive him. Teach him.”

“… to err is human, but to forgive is divine,” he added.

Adit said he would not debate on whether Hadi was misquoted by the press or whether the remarks were a reference to a state of mind of the people in Lubok Antu.

He said damage had been done and the people in Sarawak were very angry.

However, he pointed out, it was not what the Dayaks wear that would make him or her, a Dayak.

“If people in Peninsular Malaysia are ignorant about us (Sarawakians) we should teach (or inform) them about the truth,” he said when contacted yesterday.

A member of the State PKR political bureau, Baru Bian, said his party condemned such statements if indeed Hadi had uttered them.

“There has been so much reaction from various quarters in Sarawak on the purported statement made by PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang in the run up to the recently concluded Manek Urai by-election where he was quoted to have said the opposition lost in the Batang Ai by-election because the voters there did not know how to vote as they were still wearing ‘cawat’ (loincloth),” said Baru in a press statement yesterday.

Dayak leaders in PKR condemned such statements if indeed Hadi had said it,” he said, adding even national PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had made a similar stand on Saturday.

He said Anwar through a Malaysiakini report on July 25 said PKR did not subscribe to such a view and it was not in line with Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) vision of an egalitarian Malaysia.

At the meeting of PKR State Supreme Council here on Sunday, Baru said he raised the issue and requested Anwar to convey and communicate with Hadi on the feelings of the Dayak leaders in PR.

“If such statements (including ‘cawat’) were made, it is just right and proper that the PAS president apologise as this is perceived as demeaning, degrading and insensitive to our peoples’ feeling,” he stressed.

On July 11, Hadi was quoted by news portal Malaysiakini as saying: “In all previous by-elections, the results favoured us. Only in Batang Ai did we lose because they did not know how to vote, still wearing cawat (loincloth). I am not trying to insult but those places dressed nicely voted for PAS”.

The Batang Ai by-election was held on April 7 following the demise of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) vice-president Datuk Dublin Unting on Feb 24 after a heart attack.

It was held simultaneously with the Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang by-elections.

A political greenhorn from PRS, Malcolm Mussen defended the seat for BN after he won with a convincing majority of 1,854 votes over Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) Jawah Gerang, the former five-term Lubok Antu MP.

It was also the only by-election won by BN after six by-elections following March 2008 general elections.

Following the ‘cawat’ remarks by Hadi, the State Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders wasted no time to react by providing fiery statements to the press.

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