Sabahan Perspective - Evil Policies

Recently Parti Maju Sabah (SAPP) enlisted 14 requests to the federal government. Among the requests is for the federal government to return certain degree of autonomy to the people of Sabah. It's not that Sabahans have not attempted this manouvre, they did, but they paid a very high price for the struggle. The price paid came in the form of a dictatorial/draconian Internal Security Act (ISA). In Malaysia, this law is used to preemptively imprison any potential antagonist of the ruling government. Any political opponent can be arrested and thrown into jail without trial solely on the discretion of the Minister of Home Affairs, which is directly controlled by the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The previous Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammad had exercised the act, and he did it successfuly in his 22 years in office. Nobody dared to speak up, opposition politicians numbered by the hundreds were incarcerated without trial in Kamunting Detention Center. Former detainees have testified to being subjected to severe physical and psychological torture designed to humiliate and frighten detainees into revealing their weaknesses and breaking down their defences.

This is exactly what happened to the leaders of Parti Bersatu Sabah. According to the record there were 7 of them namely, Damit Undikai, Albinus Yudah, Benedict Topin, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Maximus Ongkili and Vincent Chung. The reason for the ISA detention is given simply "They are staging a threat to the country security". It is alleged that these leaders were devising a plan to secede the state of Sabah from the Federation of Malaysia.

18 years had passed since the so called Operation Talkak. Out of the seven, i think two are still prominent in the contemporary Malaysian politics. Sadly these two are on different sides of the political power. Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili is now holding the government portfolio of Minister of Technology, Science and Innovation. Whereas Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan is currently the vice president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR Sabah), the biggest opposition party in Malaysia.

Since his release just before the 1994 election, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan has been flipped-flopped in his decisions. He gained victory through PBS in the 1994 state election.

What he did after PBS won a wafer thin majority in that election and subsequent actions indicated that his detention under ISA had a profound effect on his very thought processes. The brainwashing procedures could be the factor in his character, and the timing of his release from ISA suggests that he was just a puppet, and the string is attached to someone higher up in the government. However this is just a conjecture. The fact is Datuk Jeffrey deserted PBS and joined Barisan Nasional, which led to the downfall of PBS that is led by his brother Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Now Sabahans can only hope that someone of his calibre will emerge and fight for the Kadazan Dusuns.

Besides the autonomy and an attempt to secede, PBS also calls for 50-50 redistribution of revenue from Sabah's natural resources, particularly from crude oil. I think that the formulae is reasonably fair (kira okaylah) for Sabah, rather than the current lopsided deal of 95-5, with 95% going to the federal government and 5% to Sabah.

Lately there are talks that Pakatan Rakyat under the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (ISA Detainee Alumni himself) is offering Sabah an irresistible 20% oil royalty. The promise would surely be seen as a carrot for the Sabah Barisan Nasional representatives. Rumours are rife that SAPP and UPKO find this too hard to dismiss. And they are ready to jump onto the bandwagon. Coupled with the lucrative prospect of a Deputy Prime Minister Position in the federal government and of course the 20% oil royalty.

But as a Sabahan, I honestly don't understand why should we be content with a meagre 20%? Why not take advantage of the current bargaining power and ask for more. Afterall we are entitled for it, the oil is ours. It's dug out of our soil, our heritage. I'd like this to be an open invitation for the leaders to follow-up on PBS demand in the 90's. For God sake, please ask for 50%.

Since Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over from Mahathir, the situation turn for the better. More and more parties are beginning to speak up, the government is criticised openly, in the media (although still questionable), radio and newspapers. And the rise of internet as an alternative media has a profound impact on the growth of discontent towards the government.

Abdullah has plenty of chances to arrest these opporturnists under the ISA, but he didn't, he is taking bureaucratic approach. Which is the precise reason why some quarters are of the opinion that he is a weak leader, and loudly requesting him to step down. His prominent critics is undeniably Tun Dr. Mahathir himself.

I found an article on the internet about the incidents involving PBS leaders and the ISA, entitled Operation Talkak. You can find it here Operation Talkak

Also a book on the crisis during the 90's between the Federal Government of Malaysia and the Sabah's PBS. This book summarized the events that took place then. You can read it from google books abdication...

I take this excerpt from the book, i think it's worth for us to ponder.

...please do not pursue the idea of making Brunei the 12th State, Sarawak the 13th State and North Borneo (Sabah) the 14th State of the Federation. We are frankly not interested. "Donald Fuad Stephens".

That statement exactly summed up everything what we Sabahans are feeling. We do not want anything more than what have been enshrined in the memorandum of "Twenty Points". We just want to be treated as an equal partner in the federation of Malaysia. The points must be upheld and put into practice. And as what Datuk Yong Teck Lee have said, the window of opportunity is now, and it's closing. It's now or never.