We can win and we can govern

"We must believe in ourselves...we can win and we can govern"

KOTA KINABALU, June 25, 2011: To bring Sabah back to its past glory and to pull themselves out of the present doldrums, Sabahans must be determined to rally behind local party like Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), which is genuine and committed in fighting for political autonomy for Sabah.

This was the message of SAPP President Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee while speaking at the political gathering cum dinner themed "Sunrise after Tonight", which was jointly organized by its Kota Kinabalu and Penampang youth wings, at the Promenade Hotel here, on Friday.

He explained that this is important citing the quandary that Sabahans are currently in under Barisan Nasional (BN) rule which, he described as a form of "Federal-State collusion" (to exploit both the State's rich natural and human resources).

"Sabah under BN rule today is not a "State-Federal cooperation" but a "State-Federal collusion"; bukan kerjasama, tapi "kap-sit sama"," he quipped. The term "kap-sit" is a Hakka word which means ‘in collusion', usually for a bad reason.

He cautioned that similarly, if Sabah comes under Pakatan Rakyat rule in future, the same fate may befall Sabah/Sabahans.

"It will still be the same - "kapsit sama", and not "kerjasama". We reject this "kapsit sama" set up. Therefore, we want genuine kerjasama and please don't think that they will give us autonomy as a matter of charity, but only because they have to," he said, stressing that this message is especially for all those ‘fence-sitters' out there who have yet to support SAPP.

He conceded that currently SAPP is facing a dilemma of having to face two different schools of thought, with one group of people determined to support local party like SAPP, and another one thought it's no point to support SAPP as it's just a ‘mosquito party' and can't form the State government even if it wins in the coming general election.

"This is the dilemma that we have to overcome, and this is where our sun will rise and shine. I put this to you, that you can do something to overcome this dilemma," he said.

To begin with, he stressed that it is important that Sabahans must start believing in themselves that they are capable of governing their own state, even better than now.

And to substantiate this, he cited the fine examples of Brunei and Singapore who despite their small size and not joining the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, are now clearly better off than Sabah and Sarawak who joined.

"Back in 1963, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia as, the British was saying that if you don't join Malaya, you will not be able to administer (your own state).

"From that time, it has been implanted in the mind of Sabahans that we cannot...that we must follow (Kuala Lumpur), from London to Kuala Lumpur we will follow. That was 1963.

"But, Brunei did not join and Singapore pulled out two years later. Lee Kuan Yew came to Sabah to persuade our leaders to join Malaysia. But after we joined Malaysia, he left without even saying good bye to us!

"Today, in Asia, which are the two smallest nations? None other than Brunei and Singapore and they are also the richest. Their currencies are also the strongest," he pointed out.

Yong further reminded that Sabah which is rich in natural resources like oil and gas, was once the richest state in Malaysia but now the poorest state.

"How could this be possible when Sabah is an oil and gas producing state? We should be better off today especially when the global oil price goes up, instead of becoming poorer.

"Hence, we must first convince ourselves that change must start with us. When the sun rises tomorrow, there will be a new era in Sabah. All the problems like poverty, land issue etc can be resolved. We must not be looked down upon by others!"

"Looking at that, that's why we come up with the slogan of "SAPP Boleh!" and the young people of Sabah Boleh!

"This is how we change our negative mindset to positive mindset i.e. from "cannot win, win also no point, to "we can win and we can govern"," he elaborated.

The former Chief Minister of Sabah went on to cite United Kingdom as another classic example of how a once small and weak nation could turn the table around to become the powerful British Empire, with colonies all over the world, including Malaya and Borneo, at one time.

"Once upon a time, England was a small island nation and it always come under attack of the neighbouring countries. But over the few hundred years, England developed a strong navy and later ventured out to concur other countries like Canada, America, India and Borneo to establish one of the world's greatest empires.

Hence, we must believe that like England, we too can turn the table around," he said.

Yong further reminded that the political equation in this country has changed after the March 2008 general elections.

"In the past, I repeat, you cannot form government in Sabah without Federal support, now the equation has changed, whereby you cannot form a central government without the support of Sabah and Sarawak. If not because of the MPs from Sabah and Sarawak, BN is now in the opposition. This is the new political equation of Malaysia," he reiterated.

"Hence, after 47 years of waiting, it is the right time now for the sun (SAPP youth leaders) to rise and to shine! SAPP Boleh!" he proclaimed to thunderous applauds from the audience.

"We in SAPP are very proud that the second generation of SAPP members are now in the front line in the fight for Sabah," he added.

Besides Yong, the event also featured three other speakers namely John Stephen Dionysius, SAPP Youth Exco and Assistant Secretary for SAPP KK Youth, Philicica Tong, SAPP Women Exco and Supreme Council member, and Yong Yit Yoong, SAPP KK Youth Chief.

They spoke on the various perennial and pressing issues affecting Sabah, such as the continuous presence of large number of illegal immigrants in the State; high unemployment rate among the people, the youth especially; high inflation versus low pay for the wage earners, etc.

Also present at the occasion were the various SAPP KK Zone CLC Chairmen, its Deputy President Datuk Liew Teck Chan, its Secretary-general Datuk Richard Yong, Treasurer-general Datuk Wong Yit Ming, Vice Presidents Don Chin and Melanie Chia who is also Wanita Chief, Youth Chief Edward Dagul, Information Chief Chong Pit Fah, former State Finance Minister Datuk Mohd Noor Mansor, and Conan Teo, the organizing chairman.

The guests were also entertained by local hip-hop singer Atama Katama and his group of dancers, and up-and-coming Sabah Hakka pop icon, Yee Tian Long.

Anwar shouldn’t unilaterally decide on Sabah, S’wak CM

Comment

He doesn’t seem to realise that people in Sabah and Sarawak prefer their chief ministers to be elected by democratic means

De facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chief Anwar Ibrahim  attributes his poor showing at the April 16 Sarawak state elections  to, among others, the idea of a Dayak chief minister.

Anwar was  entertaining an online news portal’s TV network earlier this week on his monumental failures in Sarawak, as in Sabah earlier. Like his equally naïve interviewers, he didn’t seem to know whether he was coming or going on Sarawak.

Anwar’s take was that the Malays in Sarawak were put off by the idea of a Dayak chief minister and refused to award even one seat to the party.

He claimed that the minority Malays, only 20 per cent of Sarawak, accused him of promoting the idea of a Dayak chief minister at their expense. Anwar, it appears, tried to unsuccessfully reason with them that the Dayaks were in a majority in Sarawak and therefore the chief minister should come from that community.
For those unfamiliar, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is a Melanau and therefore a Dayak.

The difference is that unlike the great majority of Dayaks who are Christian if not pagan, Taib is a Muslim.
However, he has a Christian paternal grandfather and as many Christian relatives as Muslim ones. He also avoided talking about Islam like the plague since he knew that the Dayaks were watching him like a hawk.

Taib even blasted the recent seizure of bibles in Malay print in Kuching as “stupid”.

It was enough to secure the release of the bibles.

Interestingly, no Sarawak Malay has ever been chief minister of the state.

All four chief ministers so far have been Dayak, Taib and his predecessor and maternal uncle Abdul Rahman Yakub being Muslim, and the first two being Christians i.e. Stephen Kalong Ningkan and Penghulu Tawi Sli, both Iban Dayaks from the Sarawak National Party (SNAP).

The Ibans, the biggest community in Sarawak, failed as chief ministers, because of opposition from the other Dayak communities i.e. Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and Melanau.

The Sarawak Malays are in no position to object to a chief minister on the grounds that he’s Dayak or a non-Muslim.

To digress a little, the Sarawak Malays are in fact Bidayuh living on the coasts of the Kuching division and Ibans along the coast of the other division who converted to Islam.

The Brooke dynasty referred to them as Malays after the fashion of the colonial British who used it as an umbrella term to describe various ethnic groups in Peninsular Malaysia.

Also, it’s unlikely that the Dayaks will ever support the idea of a Sarawak Malay being chief minister of the state. If one is thrust on them, he won’t last in the tumultuous politics of Dayak country.

It’s more likely that a Sarawak chief minister would continue to come from among the non-Iban Dayaks – the creed is not in question – and this would ensure political stability in the state. If a Sarawak Malay wants to be chief minister he should not deny his Dayak heritage.

PKR’s emphasis on a Dayak CM, in any case, led to allegation among the Sarawak Malays that such a candidate would turn the state into a Christian one, according to Anwar.

The de facto PKR chief is like a “bull in a china shop” raising a preposterous non-issue. He naively treads, like all Peninsular Malaysians, where even devils and angels dare not.

Sarawak is Anwar’s second monumental blunder in Malaysian Borneo after Sabah.

In Sabah, Anwar thundered that there was no way he would have Jeffrey Kitingan as the Sabah PKR chief”. Jeffrey, who has many Musli relatives, was accused openly by Anwar of being a racist and harbouring a hidden Christian agenda, whatever that means.

Anwar was playing politics where he should not be doing so.

Jeffrey pushed for the idea that the Sabah PKR chief should be democratically elected by the division chiefs and not appointed by the party headquarters (read Anwar) in Kuala Lumpur.

Anwar would have none of it and wanted a Muslim to head Sabah PKR although the majority of the members were non-Muslim Dusun, including Kadazan (urban Dusun), and Murut.

Anwar’s excuse is that the Muslims, no doubt the illegal immigrants with MyKads included, were now in a slight majority in Sabah.

Baru Bian seen as stooge for Anwar

He decided unilaterally that the Sabah chief minister should be Muslim.
He does not seem to realise that the local Muslims in Sabah were not a homogenous community and were further divided into Dusun Muslim – Ranau, Bisaya and Orang Sungei, among others – Bajau, Suluk, Brunei Malay, Irranun, Banjar, and Cocos-Keeling, among others.

In “compensation”, Anwar decided also unilaterally that the chief minister of Sarawak would be Dayak and Christian.

He went on to appoint Baru Bian, an Orang Ulu Christian, as Sarawak PKR chief.

No one in Sarawak accepts Baru because he was not elected but thrust on the membership by the party headquarters (read Anwar).

That’s one reason why PKR failed to interest the people of Sarawak on April 16.

Baru was seen as a proxy and stooge for Anwar and Peninsular Malaysians.

Jeffrey’s stand in Sabah, meanwhile, was that if the division chiefs in Sabah elected a Muslim head, so be it.
Anwar did not want to risk elections and deal with the possibility of a non-Muslim head.
Eventually, Jeffrey left amidst accusations that he was the King of Frogs, a label he has explained, and interested only in party posts and positions and in being number one and chief minister.

Jeffrey’s explanations that his politics was all about the people, the issues, principles, policies and priorities, and not posts and positions, were pooh-poohed by Anwar and drowned out by the propaganda barrage from party headquarters.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan thinks that Anwar made many promises to Jeffrey, all of which he had no intention of keeping, made use of him to build up the party in Sabah and eventually played him out.

If anyone is obsessed with the ethnicity and faith of the chief ministers of Sabah and Sarawak respectively, it’s politicians from Peninsular Malaysia. They don’t seem to realise that Peninsular Malaysia – Malay, Chinese, Indian – is no political model for Sabah and Sarawak.

The people in Sabah and Sarawak prefer the chief minister to be elected by democratic means and decided by the respective governors in accordance with the constitutional provisions. Any departure from this would be an exercise in illegality, and ultimately, futility.

The current unease in Sabah over the post of chief ministeris is wholly due to the fact that the candidate is appointed by Putrajaya and not elected by the people in accordance with the state constitution.

Also, Sabahans are no longer willing to tolerate a situation where a candidate stays too long in the post. The idea is that the rotation of the Sabah chief minister’s post should be continued but every five years and not two years as previously and by election. It’s not known whether the proponents want the chief minister’s post to be confined to Umno, an unacceptable idea, or rotated among the Barisan Nasional component parties as until 2003. The local parties want in as well.

Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition alliance, and Anwar would do well to take heed of the thinking on the ground of the people in Sabah and Sarawak on the post of chief minister for their respective states. PKR should allow only elected candidates to head the party’s Sabah and Sarawak chapters.

In that case, Jeffrey would probably be back with PKR in a wink, the party is yet to accept his resignation, but not so much to wrest the post of Sabah chief. Many feel that he should play the role of elder statesman in Sabah and Sarawak for PKR and function as a de facto chief. Jeffrey’s return to PKR may help arrest the party’s declining fortunes in Sabah and Sarawak.

Joe Fernandez (Free Malaysia Today)

SAPP is doing better job on Bumi issues

Sabahans need to change their attitude if they want to progress. The attitude of certain groups of Kadazandusun and muslim bumiputras today who are still living with a “Katak dibawah Tempurung (ignoring of things happening around them)” mentality need to be changed.

This includes their perception of SAPP, which is although is a Chinese party, is actually the true fighter for the Kadazandusun and muslim bumiputras. (SAPP is actually a multi-racial party)

To me, only SAPP can defend the interests of the Kadazandusun and muslim bumiputras in Sabah when all the local based parties are not that serious.

I have come to the conclusion that it was the Kadazandusun and muslim bumiputras leaders who sold the native customary rights land of the villagers.

There are no job opportunities in Sabah because our leaders who are presently sitting in the Government never demanded the Federal Government to set up industries to provide jobs for our youngsters.

Our Kadazandusun and Muslim bumiputras leaders in Sabah mostly are cowards, easily bought over and not as firm and bold enough like the Chinese. They are not sincere in fighting for their own rakyat. They much prefer to amass personal wealth by purchasing village lands and then selling them to foreign companies for their own interest. They are just penyanggak and lintah darat (crooks and blood suckers).

The religious issue faced by us today is caused by dirty politics played by the both peninsula-based pro-government and opposition parties. We do not want to be involved and share their burden of this and many other problems brought by them to Sabah and Sarawak.

The rakyat in Sabah must not be easily influenced by the words uttered by those leaders in Government today, which are only meant for their own personal benefit.

Most of our leaders nowadays own a house in KL, as their own rakyat are being sidelined.

Maslan Maginda

Hope yet for Borneo people

Luke Rintod

International agencies, including the UN, are now more aware of the the plight of the natives in the island.

GENEVA: The people of Borneo can rest assured that they are not neglected by the international community. Their woes have been heard by the various United Nation agencies and international organisations.

Secretary-general of Common Interest Group Malaysia or CigMa, Kanul Gindol, told FMT in Geneva that dialogues with European leaders and the UN Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) have been fruitful.

“They certainly are listening to our reports and had promised more dealings not only with our governments but also with the people and civil societies, both local and from abroad, who are working to improve the life of the people of Borneo,” Gindol said  after meeting with the UNCHR rapporteurs here.

Gindol said the international community had not “abandoned” the 19 million people of Borneo, more than half of whom are allegedly living in impoverished conditions.

“Leading parliamentarians in The Hague and Brussels told us that they are now more aware of what is going on in Borneo including in Sabah and Sarawak. In fact, a delegation of EU met the Sabah state government officials only a few weeks ago in Kota Kinabalu.

The UNCHR was represented in the dialogue by rapporteurs and officers from its various sections, including the human rights section; the economic, social and cultural rights section; the religious rights section; and the indigenous peoples and minorities section.

CigMa president, Daniel John Jambun, presented his paper “Disenfranchisement of bona fide Sabahans”, the same paper he had presented in earlier meetings in The Hague, Holland, and Brussels in Belgium.

Political manipulation

Hindraf leader, P Waythamoorthy, also made a presentation on the condition of Indian community in Peninsular Malaysia.

Also joining the dialogue in the UNCHR office in Geneva was Clare Rewcastle-Brown who made a power-point presentation on the recently-concluded Sarawak state election.

Brown, who operates the Sarawak Report blog and also the London-based Radio Free Sarawak, highlighted how political manipulation of the simple-minded natives in Sarawak had contributed to the triumph of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in the recent Sarawak election.

Borneo Island is one of the most divided islands in the world with three countries – Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia – governing parts of it. Including the tiny sultanate of Brunei, the island is divided into seven states or provinces – Sabah, Sarawak, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

All states are endowed with gas and oil deposits, with Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei combined together having one of the biggest reserves of oil in the region. Large tracts of timber are being cleared for large-scale palm oil plantations which has become another big issue for the people in the island.

A Memorandum on the Fate of Sabah in the Malaysian Federation

Presented by DANIEL JOHN JAMBUN, Esq. At the House of Commons, London, the United Kingdom, March 9, 2010

Good afternoon all Honourable Members of the House, ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, I would like to record our most sincere gratitude having been given this honour of presenting this memorandum before this esteemed House. Today, marks a moment of honour for the people of Sabah, the former North Borneo, for having been accorded this rare opportunity to present a Memorandum a matter of grave significance, a matter which affect our fate as the people of the Federation of Malaysia. We see this as a historical event, a moment granted by God’s grace, in which we can communicate under this honourable roof, to reminisce a milestone of history half a century ago which was followed by sad events that in too many instances happened with numerous misgivings.

For decades now, we the people of Sabah, have been haunted by ghosts of history dating back to August 31, 1963, the day we gained independence from Great Britain. Malaysia was conceptualised and constituted with the best of promises, endearing in us hopes and dreams for a greater future. It is with sadness that I stand here to witness that what had transpired since September 16, 1963 had been a series of events that had led us to the present situation in which we can justly proclaim to be a situation of shattered hopes and broken dreams!

We therefore stand before this House, in good faith, to seek redress and to appeal for an inclusive dialogue, which we hope will lead to a clearer and brighter tomorrow to all parties concerned. I seek the indulgence of this House to hear our side of the story and adjudge the events of the past with a clear conscience and a sympathetic eye, and to lend us a hand in seeking a just and righteous solution to our problem.

I would like to present three pertinent issues, which may or may not have direct concern of the present British government. Firstly, we need to take a critical review of the rationales and instruments for the formation of Malaysia. There is the nagging question of justice in the drafting of the critical Malaysia Agreement, the efficiency and integrity off the Cobbold Commission, the reliability of the promises of the Twenty Points, the Inter governmental Committee Report and the Malaysian Act, historical documents which must be familiar to the knowledge of the Honourable Lawmakers in this House. Secondly, is the perennial issue of security which now affect the sovereignty of Sabah within Malaysia. And thirdly is the case of the spiraling deterioration in the economic wellbeing of the people of Sabah.

Sabah’s Expectations of Malaysia vs Reality and the Malaysian Agreement

The facts of history is that Sabah, a former British colony, achieved its independence on August 31st, 1963. On September 16, 1963, it merged with Malaya, Singapore and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia on terms agreed by all parties. The concept of merger and equal partnership was introduced by Tunku Abdul Rahman to allay fears in Sabah and Sarawak of the possibility of Malaya recolonizing them upon the departure of the British masters.

The terms of this Federation are contained in various documents such as the Twenty Points, the IGC report and of course the Malaysia Agreement, which on paper protected the interests of Sabah and Sarawak within this new Federation so that they do not lose their autonomy in certain areas of governance which gave meanings and substances to their independence.

Without doubt, this was the expressed hope of the founding fathers, principally Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia; Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Donald Stephens and Mustapha Harun of Sabah, Stephen Kalong Ningkan of Sarawak, etc. Independent speeches were delivered by various leaders including Razak, Tun Mustapha, Donald Stephens and Sir William Goode to during the historic celebration of Sabah’s nationhood. I present several quotes from them below:

Today, is a historic day for Sabah. It marks the beginning of self-government and independence and the end of colonialism.

–    Sir William Goode, outgoing Governor of North Borneo
    (Sabah Times, Jesselton, August 1, 1963)

The Tunku naturally uttered several historic statements on the matter:

“The granting of self-government too would enable Sabah to stand on its own feet as equal with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore.”

 (Sabah Times, Jesselton, August 30th, 1963)

“The important aspects of the Malaysia Ideal, as I see it, is that it will enable the Borneo territories to transform their present colonial status to ‘self government’ for themselves and absolute independence in Malaysia simultaneously...”

“The days of imperialism are gone and it is not the intention of Malaya to perpetuate or revive them. When the Borneo territories become part of Malaysia, they will cease to be a colony of Malaya, they will be partners of equal status, no more or less than the other States.”

(Strait Times, October 2nd 1962) The “other States” refer to the other States entities of Malaya, Singapore and Sarawak.”

Today, more than forty six years after independence, the people of Sabah are asking what happened to these rosy pronouncements and assurances. In fact the Sabahans have always been seriously clarification as to why Sabah is now functioning as if it is only a colony of Kuala Lumpur. Many still remember the warnings given by former Indonesian president Sukarno, who said that Malaysia will not change colonialism but will only shift its headquarters from London to Kuala lumpur. Has Sukarno’s prophecy come true today?

Tunku Abdul Rahman kept assuring us that Sabah was now independent; that it was no longer a colony and that Sabah will have its” absolute independence” in Malaysia. What Tunku Abdul Rahman said was exactly what we expected Sabah to gain and benefit from being part of the Federation, i.e. being a fully autonomous state within the Federation. But contrary to that promise, the reality today is that Sabah has become the 12th state of Malaya. Federal government leaders, dominated by Malayans, today can arbitrarily change, at their whims and fancies, whatever they wish to suit their needs and convenience. They even ignored the Twenty Points and the Malaysia Agreement and made it sensitive to even talk about them.

The Problem of the Illegal and Legalised Immigrants in Sabah

About half of Sabah’s population of 3.25 million today are foreigners. Out of this number, 750,000 are undocumented or without travel documents or work passes. Dr Chong Eng Leong paper, “Human Rights and Citizenship: Its impact on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights,” presented at the SUHAKAM Roundtable Discussion on July 31, 2006 refers.

Of these, 60,000 are categorized as refugees and about 153,000 to 418,000 are those supposedly given work passes. In addition there are those with false documents but over and above these numbers are the 600,000 who have been given genuine Malaysian identity cards or MyKads by higher authority under “Projek IC  Mahathir” (Dr. Chong Eng Leong, Ibid.)

The most serious and obvious injustices inflicted upon Sabah is the deployment of non-citizen to become voters, thereby depriving citizens of the right to democracy and self-determination. The main category of foreign voters comprise the 600,000 who have been given Mykads, under “Projek IC Mahathir.” This project was widely debated in the local papers in 2006. A witness to a trial on an election dispute confessed in court to possessing a dubious identity card, telling the magistrate that he obtained his IC through “Projek President Mahathir.” This evidence was never contested, and nor has there been any denial form the former Prime Minister.

Security and Sovereignty

Most of these foreigners come from a neighbouring country (the Philippines) which, incidently, has yet to drop its territorial claim over Sabah. By the sheer number of the illegals from the Philippines alone, with their settlements surrounding all the major cities and towns, this claim could be easily legitimized. Sabah is now a haven for escaping terrorists, rebels and kidnappers. JI or Jemaah islamiyah, a terror network, has been identified as having its presence in Sabah. So is Darul Islam Sabah. Hence, with the presence of armed foreigners on our soil, Sabah is no longer a secure state.

This begs the question: Where is the security that the founding fathers of Malaysia had promised us? With the explicit support of Great Britain, we had been hard-pressed to join in the formation of Malaysia, in the name of security from Indonesia’s Confrontation and Phillippines’ claim. But as it turned out, today Brunei, which opted out following a rebellion, and Singapore which was later expelled, are doing so much better. There is therefore no denying that Brunei had been far-sighted, and Singapore had been ironically blessed by its expulsion.

Reverse Take Over

As the number of non-citizens are now rapidly outnumbering the local population in some areas (Dr Jeffery Kitingan, Justice for Sabah, Table 4.1), it is merely a matter of time for this foreign population to spread and overwhelm the whole of Sabah. SUHAKAM’s former Commissioner, Prof. Hamdan Adnan, once said that a foreigner reverse takeover is imminent if the trend continues unabated.

Poverty

Sabah is a rich state endowed with much natural resources such as oil and gas, timber, fertile agricultural land and tourism potentials. With a population of just about three million, Sabah offers abundant promises for vibrant economic development and enviable prosperity. Unfortunately, Sabah today is the poorest state in Malaysia (according to the government’s Malaysia Plan Report). Most of Sabah’s  timber has already been harvested without any heed to sustainable supply management, and over eighty percent of the agricultural land develop for oil palm belong to corporate giants owned by west Malaysian companies. Ironically, Sabah is Malaysia’s largest oil palm producer with 60% of the  nation’s palm oil being produced in Sabah. Sabah is also one of three Malaysia’s oil producing states, producing more than 73,000 barrels of crude petroleum per day. Why then is Sabah poor and financially dependent on the federal government? The answer is simple: It is either that Sabah is not getting its fair share of its own wealth or is the victim of mismanagement, or both. UNDP (United Nation Development Program) put the State poverty rate at 24.3% of the population.

Poorest State

Sabah, once the richest state in Malaysia, is now the poorest. Most of the poor are Natives in the rural areas, including paddy farmers, fishermen and smallholders. The state government of Sabah has one of the highest budget deficit in the country amounting RM252.89 million (2006). With a population of 3.25 million, its per capita income currently stands at RM9,536 compared to RM18,040 for Malaysia. This show a huge disparity with Sabah’s per capita income way, way below the national standard. Where do our riches go to? To be exact: to the Federal Government. Sabah can never be rich as long as our State cake” is continuously divided into thirteen.

Oil Revenue

Oil and gas belong to the state but in 1976 the federal government made the state surrender this state resource to a central government agency, PETRONAS. It is said that that the “Double Six” Tragedy (airplane crash at Sembulan which killed senior Sabah cabinet members, including the then Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens, the former Donald Stephens) was the result of the refusal by Stephens to sign away Sabah’s oil right in Labuan then. Soon after Tun Fuad’s funeral, Harris Salleh signed the agreement. In return the state gets only 5% of the oil revenue. Why? Why do we get only 5% of the revenue from oil, when in the first place, it is a state resource? Who gets the other 95%? How much revenue earnings have been generated from Sabah’s oil and gas, including their by-products?

Felda and Felcra

Land given out to Felda and Felcra by the State Government for the purpose of development assistance to the landless local was never implemented. According to the former Chief Minister, Harris Salleh, 300,000 hectares have been given to Felda/Felcra for this purpose. We know of no one Sabahan having benefited, although perhaps there may be a few. So who are the rest of the beneficiaries? Who is reaping the oil palm harvest from our land? Obviously, justice must be served. And these lands must revert back to the State Government and their utilisation reviewed as part of our economic revival and poverty eradication programmes.

Political

The enormous political implications of the non-citizens currently holding citizens’ identity cards are mind boggling. It is frightening to contemplate the ramifications of the fact that they can vote, as they have been recruited and mobilised by certain political leaders in the BN (the Barisan Nasional or National Front) ruling coalition. In fact most of these “voters for hire” have been recruited as members of UMNO (the United Malay National Organisation), the backbone of the BN.

Even a fellow BN member had openly admitted that illegals could be in BN parties. Chin Su Ling, Youth Chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, a component of the BN said there is a possibility that many illegal immigrants have become members of various BN component Sabah. (Borneo Post, Tuesday, September 19th, 2006). These foreigners may just be “voters for hire” at present but once they can organize themselves, they could be in a position to control Sabah UMNO and elect their own representatives into the State Assembly and Parliament. Once this is achieved they could take over the government and change the rules of the game in their favour. This is not impossible.

How did Sabah’s population grow so fast? Are we more fertile than Sarawak or the peninsular? NO! The high growth in Sabah’s population is explained by the high arrivals of foreigners, many of whom were later exploited to become voters through the “Project IC.” Worse, these foreigners who obtained MyKads through the backdoor also claim to be Bumiputeras (sons of the soil). They are in fact The New Bumiputeras! These new “natives” are now the same number as the natives!

Source of Socio-economic Problems

This large foreign population in Sabah also presents a heavy drain on the economy and social services fund. One estimate puts this cost to the State between RM271 million to RM811 million a year. They also take away from the local quota for education in schools and institutions of higher learning. They use a lot of medical facilities and health care services and encroach onto natives lands, producing squatter colonies. They also rely on low cost housing schemes provided by the government. They are also involved in drugs. According to the police, 90% of drugs are from the Philippines. They steal water and electricity through illegal connections and pollute the environment. Employment wise, many illegals are now running taxis, mini buses as drivers.

“The illegal immigrants are the mother of all problems in Sabah” – Datuk Bakri Zinin . High ranking Police Officer, Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur

Conclusion

The root cause of Sabah's dilemma is the fact that the Inter-Governmental Committee Report had failed to ensure Malaysian Government compliance with the Malaysia Agreement on a continuous basis. Various ‘modification’ and ‘adjustments’ had been surreptitiously inserted into the national governance mechanism which had trapped us into subservience and compliance and in the process eroding much of our rights and privileges.
 
The IGC must be revived and the United Kingdom, along with Singapore, Sarawak, Sabah and Malaya (the Federal Government), must play an active role as sympathetic and just former master to institute effective and enduring rectifications. This is the least that we can ask for. This is also the way forward. The United Kingdom is the first stop in our mission to revive the IGC. Efforts are also being made at this material time in Kuala Lumpur by Dr Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan, the chairman of the Common Interest Group Malaysia (Cigma) to seek the same redress and review of the terms of independence And formation of the Federation of Malaysia. Likewise we are mobilising a similar mission to Singapore prior to seeking a dialogue with the Sabah and Sarawak State Governments on the same issue.

With respect and reverence we lay our hopes and desires before this honourable House for a redirection of the negative trends that beset us in Borneo, in the full confidence that a vehicle to the future can be chartered for justice and truth, to pick up the pieces of the shattered hopes and broken dreams.

Thank you.