PM brands opposition 'stupid', 'lazy' over Pulau Sebatik border issue

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim this evening branded the opposition "stupid" and "lazy" for allegedly missing the facts about the Malaysia-Indonesia border dispute in Pulau Sebatik.

Speaking at a town hall with students at a private university, the premier did not mince his words when he touched on the issue, which had also been a subject of contention in the Dewan Rakyat earlier today.

According to Anwar, the opposition had accused him of committing treason after a news report claimed Malaysia had ceded over thousands of hectares of its land in exchange for three villages along the Sabah-Kalimantan border.

"If we choose to make a good decision, we must also be brave. (Because the decision) may not be popular. Sometimes we would get insulted, ridiculed and hated for that decision.

"Like the debate in Parliament this morning. The issue at hand was about the border in Sabah-Sarawak, but the prime minister was accused of treason, of selling the country.

“(They) did not even know the full facts. They are too lazy to read; they do not want to learn. But if we call them stupid, they will be angry.

"But what happened (in the Dewan Rakyat), the debate that happened did not have anything constructive or in pursuit of the truth.

"We can go to war with Indonesia, which is our neighbour. But we choose to make peace. We choose to defend our sovereignty and territory, and if we want Indonesia to respect ours, we also must respect their rights and sovereignty," he said.

The premier said this during the Temu Anwar programme at the Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) in Kuala Lumpur.

Anwar was referring to a heated argument he had with several opposition MPs in the Dewan Rakyat this morning, when he was giving a ministerial briefing on the land issue.

In his explanation, the prime minister clarified that the 5,207ha of land claimed by Indonesia recently was not previously part of any nation.

Pressure to explain

Anwar held the briefing session after he was pressed by the opposition to address concerns about its purported move to cede 5,207ha of land to Indonesia as compensation for three villages in the Nunukan area.

Perikatan Nasional leaders had urged Putrajaya to be transparent over the issue following reports by Indonesian media on Jan 22 asserting that Malaysia had ceded over thousands of hectares of its land in exchange for three villages - Kampung Kabulangalor, Kampung Lepaga, and Kampung Tetagas - in Pulau Sebatik.

According to the republic’s investigative news organisation Tempo, Indonesian National Border Management Agency secretary Makhruzi Rahman said this followed a territorial settlement agreement in which the border line was shifted.

Following public outcry over the allegations and the cabinet's instruction to provide clarifications, Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup, on Jan 23, disputed reports claiming that Malaysia’s move to hand over its land was a form of “compensation” for the three villages.

His statement at the time, however, did not address the extent of the territorial changes following the border settlement, causing certain quarters to double down in their calls for the government to provide better insight.

When questioned by reporters the day after Arthur's statement, Anwar shortly echoed insistence that media reports on the matter are “not true”, briefly adding that Malaysia will engage in amicable negotiations on the issue soon.

Evidently dissatisfied with the apparent lack of explanation from the government, opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin on Jan 29 told a press conference in Parliament that Putrajaya should address the matter in the lower house.

The next day, Anwar shot down the call, asserting that there was "no need" to bring the matter to Parliament's attention while lambasting the opposition for supposedly "lying" when commenting on the issue.

Excellence and morality

During the town hall attended by over 1,000 TAR UMT students today, Anwar also gave a lengthy speech about the importance of having a balance between chasing excellence and morality.

While knowledge and skills are important to humans, he stressed that it is even more important for them to have humanity.

"We should master knowledge, but we should never lose our humanity.

"How many people with PhDs have become thieves? Do you think these people who had been plundering the country of billions of ringgit are stupid?

"They are knowledgeable. But what is missing from them? They are educated, but they do not have humanity," he said.

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