Historical grievances behind negative Sabah, Sarawak sentiments, says analyst

 

Sabahans and Sarawakians believe a lot of the resources, including oil and gas, taken from the two states helped towards development projects in the peninsula. (AFP pic)

PETALING JAYA: Historical grievances and development gaps are the main reasons why the notion of “Sabah for Sabahans, Sarawak for Sarawakians” still exists 58 years after the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute during a panel discussion on the political dynamics in Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula said: “Too many things have gone wrong and too many promises made were not kept.”

In the forum that was jointly organised by Zubedy and Taylor’s University, Chin added that the negative sentiment on the ground was also due to many still feeling left out of mainstream development.

Sabahans and Sarawakians also held the view that a lot of the resources that had been taken from the two states had ended up going towards developing Peninsular Malaysia.

James Chin.

He argued that infrastructure development in Sabah and Sarawak is drastically lagging behind the peninsula by at least 10 to 15 years.

“For example the first highway system that was built in the peninsula was in the 1980s but the highway linking Sabah and Sarawak has not even been completed yet – this is a gap of 30 years.”

He also argued that the attitude of the Malay political establishment before 2008 was that Sabah and Sarawak were a “fixed deposit” whereby voters will continue voting for the status quo.

“This, however, changed in 2018 with former prime minister Najib Razak allocating RM1 billion for development and appointing two deputy speakers from the Borneo states,” Chin said.

Meanwhile, speaking on reforms towards implementing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as stated in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently, he said the only item that can be implemented before the agreement ceases in July next year is passing an amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution.

The bill, which was tabled in 2019 by the then PH administration seeks to reverse the 1976 constitutional amendment that relegated Sabah and Sarawak’s special status to that of being equal to other states.

However, the move failed to secure the two-thirds majority needed during voting.

The proposed amendment had sought to list Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu as states of Malaya, while Sabah and Sarawak would be called the Borneo States, overall forming the states of the federation. - FMT