Commenting on remarks made recently by Suluk community leader Akjan Ali, he agreed that the Suluks were attracted to Warisan, but he said this did not make it a Suluk entity.
He told FMT Sabahans of all races were in fact riding on a wave of state pride and remained comfortable with one another despite attempts by some political parties to divide them along racial lines.
He said the pro-Sabah sentiment was stronger among urban Kadazandusun-Murut and some Chinese communities before Warisan was formed last November.
“But now, as can be seen, this ideology has spread not just in the west coast but also to the east coast in the Muslim-majority areas as well,” he said.
He said political analyst Arnold Puyok of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak was spot on with his statement that regional identity was more important to Sabahans than racial identity.
On Saturday, Puyok told FMT he doubted that Sabahans would begin to vote along racial lines as suggested by Akjan, the adviser to the Suluk Sabah Mixed Blood United.
“As Puyok says, we are more concerned about our rights as Sabahans,” Wong said.
He said this was why Warisan’s Sabah-centric ideology was more appealing than the race-based thinking that he alleged was taken into the state by Umno and emulated by local parties such as United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) and the Liberal Democratic Party.
“When Warisan was born, we proclaimed that we were going to fight for Sabah’s rights under the slogan of ‘Sabahans for Sabah’,” he pointed out.
“After more than 50 years in the Malaysian federation that Sabah helped form, we are still lagging way behind the states in Malaya.”
Wong noted that the Sabah government had never used the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 to its advantage despite knowing that it could protect the state’s rights.
The slogans “Sabah for Sabahans” and “Sabahans for Sabah” were first promoted by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) after it split from Barisan Nasional in 2008.
Since then, more groups have picked up the motto, including outfits like the Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia group based in London.
Sarawakians have adopted a similar theme. It is widely believed that Sarawak Barisan Nasional won the state election by a landslide last year because its component parties promoted it in their campaign.