Why Malaysian story is peninsular-centric

Sabah filmmaker blames poor communication, but Penampang MP says it was a deliberate political decision made a long time ago.

Nadira: Most of the decision makers are West Malaysians and it gets difficult when our ideas of Malaysia conflict.

PETALING JAYA: An independent filmmaker from Sabah has called for improved communication across the South China Sea among purveyors of entertainment and advertising.

Nadira Ilana, who is known for her cultural activism and for films such as The Silent Riot and Big Stories Bongkud-Namaus, told FMT a lack of good communication between East and West Malaysia was one of the reasons for the Malayan bias in the portrayal of Malaysian life in films and advertisements.

“Most of the decision makers are West Malaysians and it gets difficult when our ideas of Malaysia conflict,” she said.

The dominance of Peninsular Malaysians, she added, meant that advertisements or films about Sabah and Sarawak would likely be told from a West Malaysian perspective.

“They try to do their research, but you can’t cheat a people’s lived experiences. Our film industry is still basically divided into Malay, Indian and Chinese. So, where do you stand when you identify as Dusun?”

Nadira acknowledged that no one was stopping East Malaysian filmmakers from telling the stories of Sabah and Sarawak, but she said there was not enough support for them to do so.

However, she also said there was reason to be optimistic about the near future.

“We’re fortunate that under this administration, we have Salleh Said Keruak, a Sabahan, as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, which could mean that we’ll be seeing a greater development of Sabah’s and Sarawak’s creative industries.”

If this were to happen, she added, there could be a dramatic change in the portrayal of Malaysia’s national identity.

“If we succeed, we could create more jobs for young East Malaysians. It would also ease the anxiety of many native Sabahans and Sarawakians, who are already concerned about their dying cultures and languages.”

Leiking says the manipulation of history had been so successful that many East Malaysians had for years accepted the peninsular-centric narrative as fact.

FMT also interviewed Penampang MP Darell Leiking on the issue. He said the neglect of the Sabah and Sarawak narratives in the Malaysian story might have been deliberate, but he placed more blame on politics than on the interests or ignorance of people in the entertainment and advertising industries.

“I think a long time ago, someone in a position of power decided to impose and embed the Malayan narrative on Sabahans and Sarawakians,” he said.

“Perhaps some people thought it would be easier to run the country if the people of Sabah and Sarawak weren’t aware of their rightful position in the federation because then they wouldn’t demand for their rights.”

Leiking, who is deputy president of Parti Warisan Sabah, said the manipulation of history had been so successful that many East Malaysians, including politicians like himself, had for years accepted the peninsular-centric narrative as fact.

He said it was only about 10 years ago that he came to realise how much of Sabah’s and Sarawak’s histories had been distorted and left out of the education system. Such distortion and neglect included the failure to tell the truth about the positions of the two states in the Malaysian Federation, he added.

However, he said things were being set right and he gave credit to the so-called Borneo awakening and to the person seen as largely responsible for it, former Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem.

“There’s been a lot of progress because of what Adenan did,” he said.

“The federal government seems more responsive now than ever before, although I have my reservations. I believe this responsiveness is due to political considerations since Barisan Nasional is dependent on Sabah and Sarawak for now.

“Now that more people are starting to read up and speak up on Sabah’s and Sarawak’s rights, it’s incumbent on political leaders to stand up and speak up for them.”

He added that this was especially true for Sabah. He urged politicians in the state, regardless of their affiliation, to work towards breaking what he called the “Malayan hegemony”.

“Sarawak has shown that it can fight for its state rights but I believe the Sarawakians will never really get what they want without Sabahans joining them in the cause.” -FMT