KUCHING, Jan 20 — Sarawak DAP Kidurong protem chairman John Brian Anthony today invited political secretaries to the chief minister to a public debate on problems and issues faced by the Dayak community.

He said there was no need for them to lodge a report with the police against him over his Facebook posts.

"All they need to do is to just name the venue, date and time of the debate and I will gladly come to debate with them,” he said when responding to a police report lodged against him by Alexander Asing Sadai, one of the political secretaries to the chief minister, earlier today.

Anthony, who is also the state DAP committee member, said what he posted on his Facebook page were his observations over the lack of Dayak civil servants, favouritism towards certain communities in recruitments and promotions in the state civil service and the concerns expressed by the Dayak community over their customary rights land not being issued with titles.

"There are certain government departments which are almost filled up by a certain community and members of the other communities are not blind to this situation,” he said.

Anthony said these problems have long existed, but the state government has not been able to solve them.

"My posts on Facebook will not cause racial disharmony as claimed by Sadai, but the non-actions by the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government can cause discontent among the people,” he said.

He said he does not think that there is any basis for the police to initiate investigations against him because his statement was about politics, not about inciting people to go against each other.

Speaking to reporters before lodging the report at the Simpang Tiga one-stop centre here, Sadai claimed Anthony’s Facebook post on January 14 was deemed to contain elements that could cause racial disunity among the various ethnic groups in Sarawak.

He believed that Anthony’s claim that the "natives have been marginalised and oppressed and continue to be heading to the critical stage of ethnic cleansing and political genocide” could potentially undermine the relationship between the various communities.

"We don’t want such kind of posts which can undermine the harmonious existence of the various ethnic groups. This kind of politics is the politics of hatred. We must, at all costs, not allow this kind of sentiment to flourish or continue,” Sadai said.

He said he found Anthony’s statement that the "natives are made illegal immigrants on their ancestral land and that many natives have been killed by hired gangsters of PBB elite” as a very disturbing and wild allegation.

He said this statement could spark anger among the Dayak community that could lead to civil unrest.

Sadai said it is a serious allegation for Anthony to make a claim that those defending their land are considered criminals but intruders are protected by those in power.

He urged Anthony to lodge a report with the relevant authority if he has such evidence instead of posting it on Facebook.