The ultimate benefit for the people of Sabah and Sarawak will come when no party or coalition in Parliament can put together 112 seats to form the Federal Government with a simple majority.
Joe Fernandez
In the Bible, Matthew 13:10-17, it's stated that Jesus said: “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
In 1963, Malaya had a lot. Yet, more was given to them when Sabah and Sarawak were taken away from the people, the Orang Asal in particular.
Even the little that the people of Sabah and Sarawak had was taken away from them, “because while seeing they do not see and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” Matthew 13:10-17
Over the years, Malaya has been taking away more and more away from the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
The resources and revenue of both Nations in Borneo flow to Malaya.
The Orang Asal have been losing their NCR land to plantation companies in Malaya.
Man does not live by bread alone!
Now, even their country is being taken away from them as the illegal immigrants continue to flood in and marginalize and disenfranchise them through the electoral rolls and other ways.
Finally, even the dignity of the people of Sabah and Sarawak will be taken away from them when they are no longer in the mainstream.
The people will have to decide where this is all going to end.
Man does not live by bread alone!
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:10-17
It does not pay to be lulled into complacency by the same old record stuck in the groove on so- called development.
All this big talk about development over the last few decades has only seen Sabah and Sarawak being reduced to the dubious status of being the poorest Nations in Malaysia by Dec 2010 as underlined in a World Bank Report released in Kota Kinabalu in that month.
How do you develop when your resources and revenue are all flowing to Putrajaya and very little of it comes back?
Need for greater unity in Sabah, Sarawak
Enough is Enough!
The rot has to end.
Patently, the electoral rolls stand in the way of making a change of Government possible not only in Kota Kinabalu but in Putrajaya.
The Malaysia Agreement held that Malaya should have, at the very maximum, one seat less two-thirds in the Malaysia Parliament. Today, it has 165 out of 222 seats in parliament i.e. 18 more than allowed and at the expense of Sabah and Sarawak who only have 57 seats including the Federal territory of Labuan.
To add insult to injury, pre-polls coalition arrangements like the Barisan Nasional (BN) circumscribes the democratic process by endorsing elite so-called “power-sharing” and denies the grassroots meaningful participation in the democratic and electoral process.
The next best thing will be for as many people as possible to come together and say NO to the parti-parti Malaya in Borneo and the local parties who are willing to be their proxies, stooges and rogue elements. It’s the local parties in Sabah and Sarawak being in cahoots with the parti-parti Malaya which facilitates the internal colonization of these two Nations in Borneo.
The result of greater unity among the people of Sabah and Sarawak would be a denial of the two-third majority not only in Parliament to the ruling coalition but also a denial of the same margin of victory to whoever seizes the reins of power in Kota Kinabalu.
The Federal Government must be brought down to Earth
Nevertheless, the battle for Sabah and Sarawak will not be fought in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching but in Putrajaya where the Federal Government has been steadily hacking away at the powers of the state governments after doing away with Local Government elections.
The Federal Government in general, the Prime Minister’s Department in particular, will have to be cut down to size. This can only happen if the ruling coalition does not have a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
The ultimate benefit for the people of Sabah and Sarawak will come when no party or coalition in Parliament can put together 112 seats to form the Federal Government with a simple majority.
Bringing the Federal Government down to Earth will enable the 45 per cent non-Malay minorities to do away with the various pro 55 per cent Malay majority administrative laws – government policies in action – which have been enacted at the expense of the former.
Therein, lies the crux of good governance, openness, transparency and public accountability in Malaysia i.e. the dismantling of the sick ketuanan Melayu (Malay political dominance and supremacy) ideology which unknown to the world is based on a combination of Apartheid, Nazism, Fascism, Communism, Political Islam and the Caste System.
All these will be just for starters in Sabah and Sarawak.
Cobbold Commission was disingenuous on Malaysia
There’s also a need to bring closure to Malaysia in Borneo.
No Referendum was held in 1963 on Malaysia in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Malaya.
Instead, the Malayan and British Government dragged Sabah and Sarawak into Malaysia on 16 Sept, 1963, in cahoots with the Singapore Government, within weeks of the two Nations obtaining their independence by self-determination on 31 Aug, 1963 and 22 July, 1963.
Singaporeans in a Yes or No vote held on the island opted for independence through merger with Malaya via Malaysia. Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei were to be in the new federation to facilitate the merger of Chinese-majority Singapore and non-Malay majority Malaya.
In Sabah, the Suluk and Bajau community leaders, sensing personal benefits for them as proxies to Malaya, agreed to Malaysia; the Chinese community leaders were against Malaysia while the Orang Asal – Dusunic and Murutic groupings – community leaders wanted a period of independence before looking at the idea of Malaysia again subject to being provided with further details.
In Sarawak, the scenario was a repeat of Sabah i.e. two-thirds were against the idea of Malaysia in Borneo. Only the Sarawak Malay community leaders, induced by personal benefits to them as local proxies for Malaya, agreed to Malaysia.
The Cobbold Commission disingenuously concluded that two-thirds of “the people” were for Malaysia based Suluk/Bajau + Orang Asal Sabah = two-thirds; and Sarawak Malays + Orang Asal Sarawak = two-thirds.
The written Constitution of Malaya is being passed off as the written Constitution of Malaysia.
Security for Borneo Nations in Malaysia an afterthought
Malaysia in fact has an unwritten Constitution based on Batu Sumpah, the Malaysia Agreement, the written Constitution of Malaya and other constitutional documents.
The Federation of Malay is masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia evident in the fact that Putrajaya refers to Sabah and Sarawak as the 12th and 13th states in the Federation (Malaya); and the history books record that Sabah and Sarawak achieved independence through Malaysia.
Malaysia, which the Chinese and the Orang Asal community leaders did not accept, was envisaged as an Equal Partnership of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, Singapore and Malaya.
The refusal of Brunei to be in Malaysia made the Singapore-Malaya merger via the new federation a non-starter.
Not surprisingly, Singapore was expelled from Malaysia two years later after a short-lived experiment in merger.
The exit of Singapore made the presence of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia all the more inexcusable.
Security for both Borneo Nations in Malaysia was an afterthought argument.
Putrajaya in for tough fight in eastern Sabah
The continuing influx of illegal immigrants into Sabah and Sarawak as Putrajaya looks the other way demonstrates convincingly that the so-called Federal Government is in no position to guarantee the security of Sabah and Sarawak. The fact that some 200 Sulu and MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) gunmen can stroll into Lahad Datu recently and continue hold up the security forces even weeks later is telling.
Malaysia has become a laughing stock in the region and the world after virtually begging the gunmen, on bended knees amidst hand-wringing, to leave but to no avail.
Malaysia has no troops with combat experience to take on the battle-hardened MNLF in eastern Sabah if they decide to continue and back Sulu in Sabah. The fact that Sulu does not have a leg to stand on in Sabah on its so-called claim is beside the point. The MNLF, virtually a creation of Malaysia, has an axe to grind with Putrajaya after being left out from the recent peace process in the southern Philippines.
Joe Fernandez is a mature student of law and an educationist, among others, who loves to write especially Submissions for Clients wishing to Act in Person. He feels compelled, as a semi-retired journalist, to put pen to paper -- or rather the fingers to the computer keyboard -- whenever something doesn't quite jell with his weltanschauung (worldview). He shuttles between points in the Golden Heart of Borneo formed by the Sabah west coast, Labuan, Brunei, northern Sarawak and the watershed region in Borneo where three nations meet.
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