Malaysia Day: No celebrations in Sabah?

The pre-occupation of the BN government, for the moment, is Umno's party politics.

KOTA KINABALU: History rarely presents the people of a nation an opportunity to reflect about their past and rejoice about their future. In Sabah, the golden jubilee of the formation of Malaysia is one of those occasions.

But just days before the 50th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia, there’s little to show that the former British colony of North Borneo that joined Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya to form the new nation is in a celebratory mood.

It’s telling that there has been no plan on how to mark Sept 16, and help strengthen the still fragile ties between the Borneo states and Peninsular Malaysia.

Other pressing matters such as the repercussions of the recent fuel hike, rampant corruption, rising crime, market uncertainty, poverty, job scarcity, a mediocre educational performance and a host of other ailments are hogging the headlines instead.

Why is the event so low key?

Well, there’s that little thing called the Umno party elections next month. The pre-occupation of the government, for the moment, is party politics.

There will always be an opportunity to do some nation-building some other time.

With this gloomy picture in mind, let’s face it, its hard for Sabahans not to be despondent.

The Sabah Tourism Board has announced three main events for this month on its website to mark the anniversary – an art carnival, an international paragliding race and a Malaysia Day event.

The art carnival next week, “showcasing artists and their works in celebration of Sabah’s 50 years anniversary in joining Malaysia” and the paragliding race is on Sept 16.

No Malaysia before 1963

The write up for ‘Malaysia Day’ event in its calendar of events for this month states: “The Federation of Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963. Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore together formed Malaysia.

“Since 2010, Sept 16 has been a national public holiday and a series of activities will be held in conjunction with this significant event. It is a day when we collectively celebrate unity, let us together honor Malaysia Day as a sign of solidarity among us.”

There is also a quote Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak made in 2009. It reads: “When the sun rises over Malaysia, it shines first on Sabah and Sarawak. Our future as a country depends on our ability to work and live together.”

A box on the same page announcing the event gives the email address and phone number of a ‘contact person’ for further information.

Nothing else on the website indicates the milestone. It’s like a non-event.

Perhaps it’s because Malaysia, not Malaya, mind you, celebrated its independence day golden jubilee with dances, parades and fireworks back on Aug 31, 2007. That’s six years ago.

But Malaysia did not exist until Sept 16, 1963.

Knowing this, the federal government in Kuala Lumpur insisted on calling Malaya’s independence on Aug 31, 1957 as ‘Malaysia’s’ Independence Day.

After a hue and cry by Sabahans and Sarawakians, politics kicked in and three years later and the federal government in 2010 conceded that Sept 16 would be known as Malaysia Day but Aug 31 would remain as Hari Merdeka or Independence Day.

The Sabah Tourism Board website is testimony to this confusion.

In some of its event notes on Malaysia Day, Sabah ‘joins’ Malaysia as though it already existed while in others it states that Sabah, Sarawak, Malaya and Singapore formed Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963.

No enthusiasm

Since this is a government website, it’s not a big leap to say that the Sabah government too is unsure how to deal with the nation’s history.

It is well known that Malaysia was assembled from the remains of the disintegrating British empire in South East Asia and the states of Sabah and Sarawak were somehow shoehorned in despite misgivings.

Their independence through the formation of Malaysia is now often regarded as something of an anathema and this is perhaps best seen in the lack of enthusiasm to celebrate its golden jubilee.