A civil society group today released a 4 min 21 sec video imploring Sabahans to rise and take back the state’s natural resources, fight for its rights and restore its way of life ahead of the state elections.
The Community Empowerment Initiative Sabah (CEI) video is urging voters to “rise up” again to kick start the campaign although the nomination process is just over.
The video, Make Sabah Proud, is also known as Bangkit Sabah where it was uploaded on YouTube earlier today, starts off with a narration of Sabahans taking their unity for granted despite their cultural and religious diversity.
According to its website, CEI is a civil society organisation formed under the Trustees (Incorporation) Ordinance of Sabah.
Its primary objective is to initiate, engage and empower the community to work intellectually, creatively and collaboratively on selected social, political, educational and economic issues of common interest to all Sabahans and Malaysians.
“We are diverse, but we are a family, a nation united in love with a shared destiny,” the video said.
“It is unthinkable for us to let race and religion get in the way of family or friendship. This is just the way things are and have been.
“We want to keep it that way forever.”
But it stated that diversity is being threatened by people “across the sea”, alluding to politicians from the peninsula.
In an apparent dig at Umno, the video shows Umno’s Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s declaration in Parliament claiming that Malaysia belongs to the Malays.
The video also highlights Umno stalwart and Gua Musang MP Tengku Razali Hamzah’s admission that he was once tasked with making Sarawak and Sabah’s petroleum a source of funds for Umno.
“Our oil and gas have become their fixed deposit,” the video said, as it implored Sabahans to use the September 26 elections as a “time to voice out”.
It said after 57 years of the formation of Malaysia and despite the abundance of natural resources, Sabah remains one of the poorest states in the federation, with race and religion used as tools to divide and rule.
“No, we will not let them. Our children and the younger generation are waiting for us to restore Sabah’s natural resources, to restore Sabah’s way of life and to fight for Sabah’s rights.
“The whole of Malaysia is waiting for Sabah to lead the way into a new Malaysia.
https://youtu.be/T-DazH4sseg?t=1
“The ‘new Malaysia’ is ‘one nation for all citizens, regardless of faith, colour of their skin or social status’.”
Another video aiming to drum up voters, particularly the youth, was the five-minute Sabah Bangkit music video which premiered on YouTube on Wednesday.
Sabah Bangkit has also become an anthem for youth in Sabah, as it was created to inspire the younger generation to stand strong for their home.
Produced and co-written by Anas Amdan and his brother, Aizat Amdan, the song focuses on the frustrations that Sabah youth feel with the way the state has been managed and calls on them to stand together to fight against corruption and autocracy in the state.
Not to be outdone, Sabah Umno also released a video on Umno Online on Thursday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rATDLbfxF2I&ab_channel=UMNOOnline
The video, titled Kita Ubah Balik!, takes a dig at former Warisan government’s scandals that had plagued the administration. – TMI