The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2013 04:13 PM PDT
MARCH 22 — Sijah Ejut is a true blue Malaysian. She is an Iban tuai rumah (village head) who has lived her entire life on the outskirts of Sibu, Sarawak. She has never been out of the country, and her ancestors have lived on the land for centuries. You can't get any more Malaysian than that. Yet, she only managed to register her citizenship and get an IC at the age of 27. And because of that, she couldn't finish her schooling. She couldn't even travel around freely because the police would stop and accuse her of being an illegal immigrant. Sijah's isn't an isolated case. Almost the entire population of her village does not have ICs (or had trouble getting ICs) even though they are all Bumiputeras. The infrastructure in her area is so bad that there are no roads, no electricity and no treated water. They wash in the river and light at night is only for those who can afford a generator. These are people defined by the Constitution as sons of the land. These are people who are more Malaysians than Malays can ever dream of being. Yet, they are treated as non-citizens. They are ignored and oppressed and denied even the basic human rights such as education. Interviewing Sijah with writer Karim Raslan for a documentary series called "Ceritalah Malaysia", I could only watch and listen to her story. I saw her try very hard, but unsuccessfully, to hold back her tears and sobs as she recalled how she was literally stopped from going to class because she wasn't considered a citizen. She wept as she thought back of the time when she was 16 and felt her world was crumbling as she would never realise her dream of becoming a teacher. How difficult would it be for the government to ensure that every rightful Malaysian citizen is treated with respect and dignity? How difficult is it for the government to ensure that every rightful Malaysian citizen is given their rights as a Malaysian citizen? How difficult is it for the government to ensure that every rightful Malaysian citizen is given the opportunity to play their part as a Malaysian citizen? I doubt it is really difficult. Especially if the allegations made by so many prominent figures are true, that more than 700,000 people were given ICs under Project IC in 2012 alone. Imagine how many undeserving people have been made Malaysian citizens if this has been going on since the 1980s and continuing till today. And imagine Sijah Ejut's outrage now that she knows that one of Malaysia's most wanted men, Agbimuddin Kiram, and the rest of his mob could have been among those given ICs and made Malaysian citizens? * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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