POLICE have questioned human rights activist Peter John Jaban over his recent “attacks” on the governor’s Arab wife, Ragad Kurdi Taib, and her son, Nizar, over the speed at which they were given the Sarawak native status.

He had also made allegations that she had used her new-found status to buy native customary rights land.

Jaban, the deputy president of Global Human Rights Federation, was at the one-stop centre of the police’s Kuching district headquarters in Simpang Tiga at 10am today to have his statement taken.

He was accompanied by fellow activist Robert Saweng.

Prior to him being questioned, Jaban told reporters that he would be demanding police action on all the reports made against Ragad and Nizar.

Jaban claimed that “several Sarawak citizens” had filed police reports against Ragad and Nizar “for causing affront to the genuine natives of Sarawak by their disregard and open contempt for the undeserved honour bestowed on them by their host country”.

In his demand, he wants the police to investigate how Ragad received her MyKad and native titled lands “when so many genuine natives still await documentation and are forced to apply for native status, despite having both or at least one native parent”.

Claiming that he had “personally seen many examples in government offices of rural people pushed aside or simply placed at the bottom of the pile, waiting (for) years while their children go without education or healthcare”, Jaban said some civil servants could “have been forced into speeding up the process by their superiors”.

“They bend the rules to accommodate people in power while genuine natives are ignored or told to come back later,” he said.

“The government must investigate the circumstances in which it was granted and indeed whether the decision followed proper procedure regarding language and links to a community.”

Jaban is also calling on the police, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and National Registration Department to open their own investigation on the matter.

Jaban said he was told that his actions could amount to sedition as it could lead to a misunderstanding among the people and civil unrest.

But the defiant activist said it is Ragad and her son that pose a threat to the stability and security of the nation. – July 7, 2023.