After remark against Chinese, Sarawak Pakatan asks why Hadi not barred from state

KUCHING, Sept 19 — Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Chong Chieng Jen today expressed his disappointment that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg did not bar PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang from entering the state recently.

He said the state government should have exercised its immigration autonomy to escort the Islamist party leader out of Sarawak for his alleged hate speech against the ethnic Chinese.

“Yet, to the dismay and great disappointment of many Sarawakians, instead of banning Hadi from entering Sarawak, Abang Johari is now working together with PAS,” Chong said, referring to a courtesy call by the PAS leader to the chief minister two days ago.

After celebrating Malaysia Day in Bintulu, Hadi led a PAS delegation to pay a courtesy call on Abang Johari on September 17.

Just a day earlier, during a Malaysia Day celebration in Bintulu on September 16, Hadi had issued a warning to Sarawakians not to allow DAP to take control of Sarawak and its wealth.

He alleged the “extremist and racist” DAP wanted to control the state’s wealth for the benefits of ethnic Chinese only.

Hadi had also said Sarawak must continue to be ruled by the local Bumiputera parties, adding that PAS trusts Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) more than PH.

Chong, who is also Sarawak DAP chairman, said Hadi’s speech in Bintulu was false and had no place in Sarawak, adding that it was this kind of speech that had created ethnic tensions in peninsula Malaysia.

Chong, who is also deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, said PAS leaders are now coming to Sarawak to advocate racial politics, instigate hatred against Chinese and spread ethnic discord.

“Yet, the GPS state government welcomes these PAS leaders with open arms,” he alleged.

He also claimed that Hadi’s visit to Abang Johari confirmed his suspicions that there is an unholy union between PAS, Umno and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), the backbone of the GPS government, to topple the PH federal government through racial politics.

“Though Hadi openly claimed that PAS is working with GPS as a whole, the truth is that it is only PBB that PAS is interested to work with,” he said, adding that he does not believe that PAS is interested in the other three component parties of GPS, namely Parti Rakyat Sarawak, Sarawak United People’s Party and Progressive Democratic Party.