Great news for Sabahan and Sarawakian. Finally, the government have relented and announced that SEPTEMBER 16th is from now on a national holiday. After seemingly a never ending wait for recognition of our Malaysia day. SEPTEMBER 16th is a historic day when Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore joined with Malaya to form a federation of Malaysia. Four states federated as one.
Certainly it's good news for us, truly a milestone was created. Younger and upcoming generations will be able to cherish the day Malaysia was born. Not only that, this I hope will also spur curiosity among the young as to what transpired before, during and after Malaysia day. What agreement was made, understand what we conceded and what have been reciprocated by Malaya and Sarawak if any.
The Barisan Nasional government deserved a Thank You from us. But some other things can and shall be done. Relation between the federated states in Malaysia can be strengthened further if sensitive issues such as illegal immigrants, development, racial and religious tolerance, etc. are honestly and seriously tackled by responsible parties.
To truly emphasize this momentous event in history, maybe it is not impossible for the media and the government to give life back to the almost forgotten twenty points agreement. I am sure there's a good reason why our forefathers imposed the twenty points before merging into Malaysia. An agreement is an agreement and should never be treated like it is just another piece of paper, lifeless with no importance.
I will surely support 1 Malaysia if it promotes true integration without ambiguities that are giving certain community/quarters more than the others. We should learn and refer to clauses in the original twenty points agreements. The agreement made before Sabah agreed to join Malaysia. There's surely a valid reason then on why they placed the clause about religion first amongst the twenty.
In my humble opinion, the twenty points agreement should take precedence and carry greater weight concerning Sabahans rights as compared to the constitutions. Don't get me wrong and accuse me for challenging Malaysia constitution, I am not challenging the constitution. I am just stating that we should always look back, learn from the past, and we should understand why our forefathers drafted the points. I am sure they had our (the descendants) priorities close to their hearts on the negotiation table.
You may say that I am being xenophobic and afraid of 'Malaysian Integration', afraid of adopting others way of life and belief, afraid that my family, children and grandchildren will forcefully unwillingly converted to become the others. That I have a close minded attitude, and that I should learn from others and accept them eventually. I should cast away my xenophobic fear. Afraid that my body will be snatched from my family by religious authority for religious burial rights, when my heart does not even believe. Afraid My properties taken away by them when i die, and my family will be getting nothing from it. Believe it or not these are the problems currently faced by many Sabahans.
To tell you the truth, I have never had any issues integrating with other races. Be it Indian, Malay, Chinese, Iban, etc. I can adopt their customs in no time. I eat ketupat, rendang, kari, muruku, lassi, bosou, etc. I could learn to play kompang, wear sarung, play congkak, or any other things that's considered strange or foreign from where i was born. I have no qualms integrating with others' cultures and rituals. But sadly the most pressing issues of them all is about my belief and your belief. It is suppose to be 'to each his own'. I am asking you, if I am being xenophobic, what about the others? who's the biggest xenophobic of them all? Race is a non-issue, it's the belief system that's the biggest culprit of many problems.
Many politicians talked about this sensitive integration issues carefully by lightly treading on it, diverting from the real issues, focusing instead on what is politically right to the eyes of those in power. And through the eyes of young generations which are mostly taught to be politically right at the expense of tolerance in schools.
And yes, this is good for a start. Reinstatement of the 20 Points should be next on Sabah's Politicians agenda.
