Atalia Mae Albert Jaua wrote an open letter to Anwar asking him to lift the ban on the book The Golden Son of the Kadazan, which has been prohibited since 1978 under the now-abolished Internal Security Act (ISA).
She said the author, the late Bernard Sta Maria, had written the book with the aim of detailing Mojuntin’s journey in championing Sabahans rights and Sabah’s independence when it was the British colony of North Borneo.
“The book was banned because of its criticism of the federal government’s policies and attitude towards Sabah at the time. The book was banned under the ISA the year it was published.
“However, the ban on the book was not lifted after the ISA was abolished and now the ban is under the Sosma security law,” she said.
Her grandfather, a Kadazan leader, was Sabah’s housing and local government minister when he died. She said he cared deeply about Sabahans and was willing to work with the federal government as long as it acted fairly.
In her letter to Anwar, she said that failing to lift the ban would undermine his government’s commitment to freedom of speech and create a perception of censorship by the state.
“Your decision has the potential to bridge divides, heal past grievances, and fortify the trust between the government and the people of Sabah. I sincerely hope you will honour Peter Mojuntin’s memory and his fight for justice by allowing his story to be freely read and understood by future generations,” she said.
The book written by Bernard, a DAP member and former Banda Hilir assemblyman, was described as a threat to national interest and security by then home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in 2015.
Zahid had said it contained excessive criticism against Putrajaya and posed a danger to the inter-religious harmony between Muslims and Christians.
In April last year, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang had urged home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to lift the ban since the investigative report on the fatal “Double Six” crash had already been declassified.
Aside from highlighting Mojuntin’s journey as a Kadazan politician, it narrates what happened in the years leading to the plane crash, in which he perished along with then chief minister Fuad Stephens and nine others.