COMMENT Rooney anak Rebit can expect to maintain a Muslim identity for the rest of his life. He can either secretly attend a church or choose to reside overseas, but it is unlikely in my opinion that he will be able to change the religion on his identity card.

What happens to the 41-year-old Bidayuh is a clear example of how policies at the federal level will ultimately affect the lives of ordinary Sarawakians; therefore, I find it amusing for Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem to even tell the opposition not to talk about the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, when the rest of the world knows about it.

Since the article I wrote was published, except for some polemics, nothing has been done to withdraw his case from the appellate court, after the Kuching High Court had ruled in his favour.

Perhaps, a minority of the church leaders who heaped praises on Adenan were just being polite and playing the same game of polemics, while their church members know better who they would vote for based on what they see.

The truth is, as I learnt it, it is not the National Registration Department (NRD) that wanted to appeal against the Kuching High Court decision. As in the case of any government agency, the decision has to come from Putrajaya. NRD will only do as it is instructed.

Why my scepticism?

We have seen from the sad story of Lina Joy who became a Christian, and wanted to change her identity card so that she could carry on with her life. I am told that she had to delay her marriage because of the problem with her identity card.

After years of court battles, the Federal Court finally ruled against her attempt to change her religion on her identity card. As a result, Lina chose to leave the country so that she could tie the knot.

Therefore, how much confidence does Adenan have that Rooney’s case will be withdrawn? In my frank opinion, it is zero. After talking to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Adenan said that he is confident that the case would be withdrawn, but nothing has happened since then.

But, Sarawakians should not forget that it was also Najib who signed the memorandum with Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy and talked at great length about ‘nambikei’ with the Hindus in peninsular Malaysia.

What happened to Waythamoorthy after less than a year of frustrations serving as deputy minister? If Najib had paid attention to the plight of the underprivileged Indian Malaysian community in this country as he had promised, why then did Waythamoorthy decide to throw in the towel?

Sarawakian church leaders also have a similar experience with the ten-point agreement signed by Najib before the last general election. What happened? Rooney’s case is now going to the appellate court, and Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Sabah, which had imported some teaching materials from Indonesia to be used for their own churches, has to battle the matter in the courts after the Sunday School materials were confiscated by the Customs.

We have also seen Jill Ireland’s case, where despite the Kuala Lumpur High Court having ruled in her favour, the case still went to the Court of Appeal over eight compact discs belonging to the Bidayuh woman. The appellates court ruled in her favour, and the CDs that were confiscated at the Lower Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at KLIA in 2008, had to be returned to Ireland.

The question is, will Adenan be able to convince Najib to withdraw the appeal in Rooney’s case? After all, Rooney made a decision on his own accord and he has the right to exercise his faith.

I honestly doubt so. It will soon be another case where the people of Sarawak will have to bite their lips in regret after the state election. The old script will be played out that the media had wrongly reported what Adenan had said or Najib may say the case is already being appealed and there is nothing he can do about it. This is what our politicians are capable of doing all the time.

Barring of Hannah

The barring of Hannah Yeoh is a clear case where Adenan claimed that he is “a moderate leader and a reformist” but failed to live up to his reputation.

A Facebook posting on Yeoh’s denial of entry has put the spotlight on Adenan: “...in reality, when it comes to the crunch, he is worse than Taib Mahmud. Where is the religious freedom he promised? When Hannah Yeoh was invited to speak at a Sibu church, she was barred. Why? What are you afraid of, Adenan?”

Hannah was to visit a church in Sibu, as she had raised some funds to help with the underprivileged people in Sarawak.

Yet, a person as amiable as Hannah Yeoh was booted out, having to fork out over RM1,000 to return home and without a public apology from Adenan. This incident alone could have triggered a big turnout at DAP’s ceramah in Sibu recently, although generally Christians would rather not get involved in politics.

Hannah Yeoh is the Selangor state assembly speaker. She is not even in the opposition, yet she was rudely treated by the Sarawak caretaker government. How can this be!

I, too, had initially wanted to encourage my Christian brothers and sisters in Sarawak to vote for the Adenan team at state level, but vote against Barisan Nasional at federal level, but when I saw Yeoh being rudely treated, I too decided that something was not right with the Adenan fever.

In fact, some Sarawakian friends sent me a WhatsApp message, which I think you, too, should read so that you too can assess for yourself what is going viral on social media amongst Sarawakians:

Why we should be wary of the Adenan Fever...

1) His arrogance showed when he usurped the Election Commission's right to decide on polling day by announcing that it would be April 30. In the end the EC set it as May 7.

2) He disregarded Section 67 of the Immigration Act that states clearly that the state authority cannot stop anyone from entering to engage in legitimate political activities. He banned scores of opposition politicians and activists from West Malaysia coming to help in the election.

3) He again disregarded the law by violating Section 10 of the Election Offences Act on bribery by using state funds to make allocations to constituents during campaigning.

4) He is not above using the race card to win votes when he urged the bumiputras to unite so that they can win the three state seats in Miri. With talk like that, Umno doesn’t need to come into Sarawak, PBB is doing a pretty good job of racial politics themselves.

5) He does not separate big businesses from politics when he directly appoints tycoons as BN candidates. No guesses what are their priority when it comes to making money or serving the people. Cronyism is legitimised.

6) His arrogance showed again when he had the audacity to ask fellow Chief Ministers, Lim Guan Eng and Azmin Ali, to apply for permission to extend their stay.

Fevers are symptom of an underlying problem and we should be very worried of the Adenan Fever.

The man, Adenan, really has to do a lot more now to show that he is a reformist that he claims himself to be; or, else, it will be much tougher for him or his successor to win the confidence of the same voters in the coming federal election, which has to be called within the next two years.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.