Seeking answers for holes in Sabah’s history

Why was a secret parliamentary act passed in 1976 - 41 days after then chief minister Fuad Stephens was killed - 'demoting' Sabah and Sarawak to 'states in Malaysia' from its orginal 'equal partners' status?

By Melvin Augustin

PENAMPANG: Born in the Tambunan 38 years ago, rap artist and social activist Atama Katama says he cool. He even does a little lighthearted rapping as he sat at the tamu here and talked about the golden jubilee of the formation of Malaysia.

But he’s wary about how his views may be received. He’s ruffled feathers before by criticising Sabah’s leaders, promoting electoral fairness and transparency and the right to protest peacefully.

So it’s no surprise when he said he could get into trouble for speaking his mind. But he’s not afraid, he said.

Sporting a baseball cap, tilting his head and talking earnestly and lucidly to FMT  last week, Atama is looking for answers and thinks of the interview as an opportune time to ask Sabahans to reflect on their political history.

Near the top of his list of questions that have puzzled him is a not well-known parliamentary act that reduced Sabah and Sarawak to the 12th and 13th states of Malaysia from their previous positions as the Borneo states.

As a Sabahan who is proud of his Kadazandusun heritage, he and others like him, too young to have had a say about the future of Sabah, want to know why and how this came about back in 1976 without much public discussion or debate at the time.

Atama says he and many of his friends his age have really no connection with Aug 31 Hari Merdeka and there are many reasons for this.

“Independence is not just on paper, not write-ups in newspapers, flyers or slogans on national TV. Independence is about being free in your heart, in your mind and in your soul. So I don’t feel like it’s independence day. I just don’t.

“On top of this there is confusion about the date of National Day Aug 31, 1957. Even if Sabah gained its so called independence from the British on August 31, 1963 there is still a lot of colonising influences taking place right despite being equal partners in Malaysia.”

Still Atama has patriotic and nationalistic feelings about September 16.

“It gives some sort of dignity compared to August 31,” he said and explains how the date is linked to the formation of the Malaysia unlike August 31.

Covertly passed Act

Like many other Sabahans, he is annoyed that it is only in the last few years that Malaysia Day is being celebrated nationwide.

“What about the past 45 years?” he asked with a shrug.

On the major dates in Sabah’s history he picks out 1976, the year Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens and several influential members of his cabinet were killed in a plane crash.

In 1976 too, he recalled, was the year Sabah and Sarawak were demoted from their original status as “the Borneo States” distinct from the grouping of the Malayan states such as Johore, Perlis, Terengganu and the others.

“Did you know that in 1976 there was an Act, A 354, passed in parliament which made Sabah and Sarawak as the 12th and 13th states in the federation? he asks with amazement.

“So the equal powers is no more in 1976. This really surprised me because we don’t know much about it. I only found out about it two years ago,” he said, adding that many are clueless about the equal partnership and the change.

“I think that this is one Article in the history of Malaysia that everybody needs to know and everybody needs to find out,” he said, even as he speculated about the plane crash that killed Fuad Stephens and others just over a month earlier.

“We don’t have information about these things … it’s been very secret. I found out it took just 41 days after the death of Fuad Stephens for this act to be passed in parliament.

“In 1963 we are supposed to be equal partner but in 27 August 1976, Sabah and Sarawak were no longer called the Borneo states, regarded as the Borneo states in the federal constitution.

“The crash and this Act are the two incidents that really shine out of the all the events and incidents that have taken place in the last 50 years.

“Why did that happen? Why was the bill passed and I’m sure every Sabahan and Malaysian wants to know.

“The truth is out there but people are fearful about questioning this,” he said and joked that he may get into trouble for asking about this.

‘There’s no respect’

The state’s checkered history, he believes, has some important lessons for Sabahans. Chief among them is not to allow governments “to run our lives as a big business in which we don’t have a share”.

“What we now have is an elitist governance. The people don’t benefit anything out of it. We don’t see what is owed to us … our rights, our civil rights. Look at the issues – land, territories, resources. It’s like we have been colonised again by a government that we have put into power,” he reflected.

While he said he’s proud to be a Sabahan and a Malaysian there are many issues in relation to this identity.

“When we were made into Malaysian citizens, indoctrination took place. Rukunagara (a set of national principles) was forced on the indigenous people making them forget who they are due to a national agenda. We forget our identity,” he lamented.

The future of the nation, he said, depends on truth, justice and reconciliation and people must ask why is this new colonisation necessary and still taking place.

“When you see your neighbour steal from you, you can either confront them and force them to tell the truth and then do something about it or you can just forget about it,” he explained of Sabah’s situation where there is anger that the bulk of Sabah’s natural wealth is taken away by the federal government.

The youth are confused by this, he said, adding that local politicians are justifying their acts.

“There is no respect given,” said Atama.

Asked about the future of Sabah, he mulled for a bit then suddenly brightens up and says: “How about this … instead of Malaysia Day lets celebrate a Federation Day. How about that?

“I think that’s better because that’s what it actually is – a federation – (Sabah, Sarawak and Federated Malaya).”