Tuesday, 10 November 2009 09:21
Ever since her story was broken in the Borneo Post in Sarawak on Oct 29, the story of Marina Undau has stirred up an undercurrent of outrage in the newspapers, on the Internet, and in countless coffee shops throughout Sarawak.
Apparently, Marina was rejected for study in a pre-university matriculation course by the Education Ministry, because she is not considered a “Bumiputra”. Her father is Iban and her mother is Chinese.
Highlighting her case has opened a long-hidden wound among Sarawakians. Thirty percent of marriages in Sarawak every year are inter-racial, and there must be tens of thousands of Sarawak youths who are offspring of mixed marriages between native and non-native parents.
Even if these children of mixed marriages live the native way of life, they are still not considered native enough in some parts of officialdom. They have been consistently denied the privileges and special treatment reserved by the Federal Constitution to help Bumiputra.
They would not be able to get prior consideration when applying for places in public universities and government scholarships, invest in ASB, special rates to buy houses, or tender for contracts in the public sector.
So far, many political leaders from both Barisan Nasional and the opposition parties have come out to express their unhappiness over this state of affair revealed by the shoddy treatment of Marina Undau, who scored 9As 1B in her SPM exam, and so has proven herself worthy and deserving for all the government assistance made available to rural students.
In one of his recent posting on his blog The Broken Shield, Malaysian Mirror’s own Joseph Tawie has this to report:
“Former president of Sarawak Dayak National Union Datuk Daniel Tajem has called all Dayak non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA), Orang Ulu National Association (OUNA), Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA) and Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) to organise a seminar on the Marina issue as well as on Articles 161a of the Federal Constitution.”
Article 161a of the Federal constitution stipulates that only children whose parents are both considered Bumiputras can be considered truly native in Sarawak. In Peninsular Malaysia, one Bumiputra parent alone will qualify the children to be considered as native for all official purposes.
By this definition, even the children of such a distinguished native personage as the Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi Tunku Jaafar are not considered native enough because their mother is a Chinese!
There is no other way forward on this matter except to amend article 161a of the Federal Constitution so as to streamline the definition of a “native” to include all those Sarawakians who have one native parent.
The Federal Constitution is the highest law of the land that defines the legal framework for our nationhood, and should not be amended at the whims and fancies of the legislators.
But the Federal Constitution is also a living growing body of laws that should reflect the changing political reality of our realm.
Whenever any integral part of it has been found to be obsolete, or fallen out of relevance with emerging new reality, then the right amendment can empower the Federal Constitution to bring justice to the people.
Of course, we are fully aware of the fact that the ruling Barisan Nasional do not enjoy a two-third majority in the Dewan Rakyat, and therefore be able to amend the Federal Constitution at will.
But this constitutional amendment as suggested by Sarawak political leaders from both sides of the political divide is likely to receive the support of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
All that the BN has to do is to ask for PR support for a bipartisan vote in the Dewan Rakyat on a motion of such a constitutional amendment bill. This might even set a precedent for the two mammoth political coalitions to work together on a joint platform to bring justice to many Sarawakian citizens and voters.
That would indeed bring some substance to the new slogan 1Malaysia so much promoted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Federal politicians must be reminded that Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats, and together with Sabah, the voters there now hold the key to federal power by the two contending coalitions. At the moment, 30 of the 31 seats in Sarawak are in BN hands, providing 22% of the BN seats in Parliament.
This huge BN fixed deposit in Sarawak cannot be taken for granted forever. A bipartisan constitutional amendment bill initiated by BN with PR tacit support will do much to win the good will of the Sarawakian voters in the next general election expected to be held before 2013.
If that amendment can come about, then the sufferings of Marina Undau and thousands of other Sarawakian kids like her in the past would not have been in vain.
Ever since her story was broken in the Borneo Post in Sarawak on Oct 29, the story of Marina Undau has stirred up an undercurrent of outrage in the newspapers, on the Internet, and in countless coffee shops throughout Sarawak.Apparently, Marina was rejected for study in a pre-university matriculation course by the Education Ministry, because she is not considered a “Bumiputra”. Her father is Iban and her mother is Chinese.
Highlighting her case has opened a long-hidden wound among Sarawakians. Thirty percent of marriages in Sarawak every year are inter-racial, and there must be tens of thousands of Sarawak youths who are offspring of mixed marriages between native and non-native parents.
Even if these children of mixed marriages live the native way of life, they are still not considered native enough in some parts of officialdom. They have been consistently denied the privileges and special treatment reserved by the Federal Constitution to help Bumiputra.
They would not be able to get prior consideration when applying for places in public universities and government scholarships, invest in ASB, special rates to buy houses, or tender for contracts in the public sector.
So far, many political leaders from both Barisan Nasional and the opposition parties have come out to express their unhappiness over this state of affair revealed by the shoddy treatment of Marina Undau, who scored 9As 1B in her SPM exam, and so has proven herself worthy and deserving for all the government assistance made available to rural students.
In one of his recent posting on his blog The Broken Shield, Malaysian Mirror’s own Joseph Tawie has this to report:
“Former president of Sarawak Dayak National Union Datuk Daniel Tajem has called all Dayak non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU), Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA), Orang Ulu National Association (OUNA), Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA) and Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) to organise a seminar on the Marina issue as well as on Articles 161a of the Federal Constitution.”
Article 161a of the Federal constitution stipulates that only children whose parents are both considered Bumiputras can be considered truly native in Sarawak. In Peninsular Malaysia, one Bumiputra parent alone will qualify the children to be considered as native for all official purposes.
By this definition, even the children of such a distinguished native personage as the Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi Tunku Jaafar are not considered native enough because their mother is a Chinese!
There is no other way forward on this matter except to amend article 161a of the Federal Constitution so as to streamline the definition of a “native” to include all those Sarawakians who have one native parent.
The Federal Constitution is the highest law of the land that defines the legal framework for our nationhood, and should not be amended at the whims and fancies of the legislators.
But the Federal Constitution is also a living growing body of laws that should reflect the changing political reality of our realm.
Whenever any integral part of it has been found to be obsolete, or fallen out of relevance with emerging new reality, then the right amendment can empower the Federal Constitution to bring justice to the people.
Of course, we are fully aware of the fact that the ruling Barisan Nasional do not enjoy a two-third majority in the Dewan Rakyat, and therefore be able to amend the Federal Constitution at will.
But this constitutional amendment as suggested by Sarawak political leaders from both sides of the political divide is likely to receive the support of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
All that the BN has to do is to ask for PR support for a bipartisan vote in the Dewan Rakyat on a motion of such a constitutional amendment bill. This might even set a precedent for the two mammoth political coalitions to work together on a joint platform to bring justice to many Sarawakian citizens and voters.
That would indeed bring some substance to the new slogan 1Malaysia so much promoted by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Federal politicians must be reminded that Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats, and together with Sabah, the voters there now hold the key to federal power by the two contending coalitions. At the moment, 30 of the 31 seats in Sarawak are in BN hands, providing 22% of the BN seats in Parliament.
This huge BN fixed deposit in Sarawak cannot be taken for granted forever. A bipartisan constitutional amendment bill initiated by BN with PR tacit support will do much to win the good will of the Sarawakian voters in the next general election expected to be held before 2013.
If that amendment can come about, then the sufferings of Marina Undau and thousands of other Sarawakian kids like her in the past would not have been in vain.
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