Why East Malaysians are unhappy

A scholar says federating with the Malayan Federation has not worked out for the two Borneo states.

KOTA KINABALU: Federating with the Malayan Federation in 1963 has not worked out for Sabah and Sarawak for a number of reasons and is causing much unhappiness in the two Borneo Nations.

This is the thesis statement in a presentation by Monash University lecturer James Chin at the Borneo Research Council Conference in Kota Kinabalu recently.

The 20/18 Points, safeguards for Sabah and Sarawak rights, “did not work out (in practice), causing the people to feel they were cheated”, said Chin. “Even government statistics show the high poverty levels in these states, especially Sabah.”

One reason for all these, implied Chin, could be that Putrajaya, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, having the same party in power, are “going back on their promises to Sabahans and Sarawakians”.

“The federal system has not worked since 1963. There was a strong push for political centralisation under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad,” said Chin in citing another major reason for the unhappiness..

In his most telling statement, the university don charged that the Muslim communities and non-Muslim communities in both Borneo states were the big winners and losers respectively. He attributed this to the “Federal Government’s policy since 1963”.

Within the context of Malaysia, the most burning issue is that the Federal Government’s imposition of the West Malaysian political model on Sabah and Sarawak is a no no, said Chin.

“This model is essentially based on race,” said Chin. “It does not work in Sabah and Sarawak because of the multiracial society.”

He said East Malaysians feel they are losing their unique political, cultural and social environment because of the imposition of an unsustainable political model which is “changing the whole dynamics of the political, cultural and social environment in both states”.

Therefore, the reasons for the rise of nationalism in Sabah and Sarawak in recent years as seen in Facebook in particular are not difficult to find, he added.

“There are already suspicions that the UN commission sent to gather the views of the people prior to Malaysia was fixed,” said Chin. “The reports in the Cobbold Commission and the UN commission were too similar.”

Chin said the evidence was found in archived documents in London by scholars, particularly non-Malaysian scholars. “There is an argument now that perhaps the commission was not as independent as was first thought.”

This raises questions on the legitimacy of the federation bringing in Sabah and Sarawak, he noted. “Sabah and Sarawak were not consulted either on the exit of Singapore.”