KUCHING: Race and religious politics can lead to the destruction of a country, warns Institute of Development Studies Sabah (IDS) chair Tan Sri Datuk Panglima Simon Sipaun.
Sadly, he noted there were some leaders in the country who chose to champion race and religion for their political agenda.
Simon said it is high time for leaders to observe and practise good governance and be concerned about the welfare and wellbeing of the country and its people irrespective of race and religion.
“We don’t want to be saying this Malay leaders only take care of their people or the Chinese leaders of the Chinese. But what we want is to have Malaysian leaders to take care of everybody,” he stressed.
Simon, who is a former state secretary of Sabah was among invited speakers to talk at a forum on Religious Freedom and Nation Building themed ‘Religion without Compulsion’ organised by the Dayak National Congress (DNC) held at the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Hall, yesterday.
“Like the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Umno (United Malays National Organisation) before, look where the country was heading to — bankruptcy and a failed state.
“So, it is not race and religion that count but how the country is managed and administered,” he pointed out.
Personally, he said he does not really care who runs the government as long as it is based on good governance principles, inclusive development and fair to the citizens of the country irrespective of race and religion.
“The government must behave as the trustee of the people and do not abuse power, corruption as we witnessed with the BN government,” he said.
He reiterated that no individuals or groups should be left behind, marginalised or side-lined simply because of race and religion.
“Our government and the people should focus their efforts on what unites them rather than on what divides them,” he said.
He added the government instead should cooperate and work hard on how to increase the size of the national cake rather than spend too much time and effort on how to share it, and everyone should get a bigger piece in the end.
