WHO IS ADENAN TRUE TO? NAJIB OR SARAWAKIANS? Rest assured – Sarawak & Sabah will never secede!

Some of the strongest words of warning to Malaysian politicians were heard on Oct 16 from the Johor crown prince who is also the heir to the throne.

Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim had said, “People deserve to know, that the mess we have in the country right now, should in no way be associated with the Johor royal family. Over the years, we’ve always been strong and independent as well as resourceful. In fact, we only joined the Federation of Malaya, upon both parties agreeing to several basic terms.”

“If any of those terms were breached, we have every right to secede from this country. You may accuse me of instigating state-based sentiments, but to me, I’m merely doing my duty to the people of Johor, and reminding them of the history and heritage behind this great land.”

This statement had prompted a response from Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed who warned, “If such a thing happens, even Sabah and Sarawak might want to follow Johor’s footsteps.”

One begs to differ!

Sarawak and Sabah are very different states and their approach would be more pragmatic and sensible – I cannot say too much for Sabah because that has become another state now dominated by Malayan political party Umno.

Sabah’s future will depend very much on how the next state and parliamentary poll results turn out – will it continue to be as unpredictable as it had shown throughout its history of overthrowing one political party after another whenever they were deemed to be unpopular with their policies? Or will Umno be able to stop this trend and continue to rule the state indefinitely?

As for Sarawak – when it goes to the next state polls due in June 2016 but many expect the election to be called as early as January or March next year – it will have another 11 new seats to total 82 state seats in all.

A two-thirds majority of 55 seats is a strong likelihood, seeing that of the 82 seats it is speculated that PBB, the state BN’s main party, will account for the lion’s share.

PBB is quite unbeatable as it stands today – they only need around 15 more seats from the other 3 BN partners of PRS, SUPP, SPDP to enable them to have a two-thirds majority state government! That would be a breeze to accomplish.

In general, Sarawakians are basically unhappy because of the many unfulfilled promises made by the federal government over the years. They are also disgruntled that the 18-point Malaysia Agreement which was agreed during the formation of Malaysia has been brushed aside. Such dissatisfaction has been widely circulated and is well-known so I shall not repeat them here in this article.

However, since Adenan Satem took over as the new chief minister in February last year, he has been able to promise that he will ensure a greater share of those matters which are in federal hands will be returned to the state and there will be autonomy on issues affecting matters close to the people’s hearts and minds.

We have seen some of these materialising, albeit slower.

It will be next to impossible for Sarawak on its own to secede – for one we do not have our own security forces, both military and police force are in federal hands – for another unless we are able to form a coalition or go into partnership with Sabah and Brunei as well, it will not be an economically viable state of affairs.

We have to be realistic and we have to face the facts – secession can only be a dream, nice to idealise about, and in reality – not quite the Utopia we imagine. - http://theantdaily.com/