KUCHING, Oct 12 — Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem today told state residents to ignore the “Lain-lain (others)” race category in official forms and insert their own ethnicity if Putrajaya does not make the changes to recognise them.
Expressing frustration over the federal government’s pace in adopting the classification measures sought by the Borneo state, Adenan also told the state’s non-Muslim natives that he shared their exasperation over the apparent lack of progress.
"If they (federal government) do not change it, in due time, just cancel the term ‘Lain-lain’ and replace with it with your own racial identity when you fill the forms," he said that a dinner to mark the 60th anniversary of the Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) last night.
Adenan said it is improper to refer the Dayak as "Lain-lain" in the official forms when they have their own racial identities of which they are proud.
"Here are the people with their own cultures, traditions, customs and characters and you call them Lain-lain?
"The Dayaks have all these traits and yet you (federal authorities) dare to call them ‘Lain-lain,’" he said, adding that the non-Muslims natives of Sarawak were referred to as the Dayaks before the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
He said the trouble with some federal government officials and the policies they implement were that they mistakenly assume that Bumiputeras only include Malays, even in Sarawak, and proceed to classify all others as “Lain-lain” in official government forms.
"Such a perception is true in Peninsular Malaysia where 99.9 per cent of the Bumiputeras are Malays, but not in Sarawak," he added, stating that he had already informed the prime minister on the need to change "Lain-lain" with the actual racial identities of the non-Muslim natives in Sarawak.
Early this year, Bumiputera Technical Committee Sarawak and Sabah was tasked by the federal government to study and recommend on the use of the term "Lain-lain" to refer to the non-Muslim natives in the two Borneo states in official forms.
A Cabinet Committee on Bumiputera of Sarawak and Sabah chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is to decide on the recommendations submitted by the technical committee, co-chaired by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas and Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.
