The calls by several Sabah and Sarawak activists for Putrajaya to honour the Malaysia Agreement is making some leaders' nervous.
COMMENT
It is interesting to note that Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein did not mention Sarawak when he said that his ministry would help the Home Ministry identify anti-Kuala Lumpur instigator groups who want Sabah to leave Malaysia and are politicising the issue on Facebook.
Obviously, it would be bad news for the powers-that-be to mention Sabah and Sarawak in the same breath when challenging any change advocated, however, remote, in their current status in the Federation of Malaysia.
Hishammuddin was speaking to the media after a parade in conjunction with the 80th Malaysian Armed Forces Day at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
The Defence Minister said the talk on taking Sabah out of Malaysia had been going on for the past several years and its promoters evidently getting bolder because of official inaction.
He reiterated the heroic efforts made by security personnel from Peninsular Malaysia in beating back a bunch of claimants from the Sulu islands who seized a remote village in Lahad Datu in Sabah not too long ago.
Hishammuddin stopped short of issuing the usual threats as in the past, but was careful at the same time not to appear to be too toothless in Umno’s fixed deposit states.
After all, he is facing a six-cornered fight to retain one of the three Umno vice-presidencies.
Hishammuddin also warned the separatists against flogging the “Sabah for Sabahans” theme, last played up in the late 80s and early 90s by the then ruling Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
No one remembers the old PBS battle cry being replayed in recent years. Indeed, the nearest to the theme are constant reminders in Facebook in particular illegal immigrants with and without MyKads are a crushing burden and whose presence is no longer tolerable in Sabah.
Former Petagas state assemblyman James Ligunjang was furious with Hishammuddin for putting the Sabah for Sabahans theme under government scrutiny.
“If Sabah is not for Sabahans, then for who?” he asked rhetorically in a text message as soon as news of the Defence Minister’s controversial remarks broke in Kota Kinabalu.
Ligunjang, was once executive secretary of PBS which he ditched in 1994 for the breakaway Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS), now the United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko).
He like many Sabahans and Sarawakians feel that “it is high time that we stood on our own two feet”.
Ligunjang said this approach was the only way for the two states to realise their full potential.
It is common knowledge that anti-Malaysia comments from Sabah and Sarawak in Facebook originate from these two states.
Indeed, these comments may be viewed by Putrajaya as bordering on treason or sedition and calculated to pit people against each other on both sides of the South China Sea and cause public alarm.
These comments are more a reflection of the perennial question in Malaysian Borneo since Sept 16 1963: “How did we get into this situation (being in a Federation with Peninsular Malaysia on the other side of the South China Sea)?”
Such sentiments translate into Facebook Pages like “Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia”, moderated by Doris Jones, a UK-based lawyer from Sabah.
There have been calls in Facebook from Peninsular Malaysia for her to be arrested.
While Hishammuddin’s pre-occupation is with retaining his Umno vice-presidency, he is also capitalising on the Achilles Heel of the ruling Malay elite that they would not want Sabah and Sarawak issue to challenge their so-called dignity and Malay political supremacy and dominance.
However, there’s nothing that Putrajaya can do about the numerous anti-Malaysia comments in Facebook or emails circulating in cyberspace.
On the one hand, Putrajaya would not want to make heroes out of zeroes.
The more Putrajaya shrieks in public about the issue of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, the worse it will be for them as it will be tantamount to opening the Pandora’s Box.
Putrajaya first pretended to be deaf, dumb and blind when activists in Sabah and Sarawak started “wagging their tails”.
They pretended to be much bigger than anything that can be thrown at them.
Meanwhile, multiple themes on Malaysia are being promoted by individuals locally or groups based abroad and which certainly do not run foul of the law.
Besides the “we want to stand on our own two feet” lobby, State Reform Party (Star) Sabah chairman and Bingkor state assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan, for one, has been questioning Putrajaya on the Federal Government’s non-compliance of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
Jeffrey has long been chanting the same mantra since the late 80s and was even incarcerated for this under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1990 for two two-year terms, the second cut short in time for the 1994 state elections during which he won Bingkor for the first time.
Then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad openly accused Jeffrey of plotting to take Sabah out of Malaysia to be its president. Jeffrey, upon his release, claimed that Mahathir advised him not to tell the people what they did not know and not to make the people smart.
Mahathir, in retaliation, alleged that RM4 billion – apparently the difference between spot prices and long-term contract prices – went missing during Jeffrey’s tenure as Sabah Foundation director.
Jeffrey has denied the allegation and welcomed an investigation. A PriceWaterHouse audit found no criminal wrongdoing on the RM4 billion.
An unrepentant Jeffrey wants the 20/18 points in the Malaysia Agreement to be honoured – a Federation of Malaya and a Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak as one country with two systems like in China.
Jeffrey’s Borneo Heritage Foundation has agreed to sponsor an international forum Malaysia 50 Years On – Expectation vs Reality in Kota Kinabalu on Oct 5.
At least nine papers will be presented by local and international speakers. The conference is being organised by former Borneo Mail managing director and former Star Sabah deputy chairman Paul Voon.
Former Sabah state secretary Simon Sipaun has been preaching, even after being questioned by police not so long ago, that “life was better in Sabah before Malaysia”.
Sipaun’s beef is that “the people in Sabah are living in fear”, their country swamped by illegal immigrants as racial and religious polarisation a la Malaya takes root.
Sipaun will moderate the conference. He will also present a paper on his favourite theme in a late September conference on “Malaysia 50 Years” at the National University of Singapore.
Some activists want to restore the sovereignty of Sabah and Sarawak won on Aug 31, 1963 and July 22, 1963 through the Declaration of Independence from British colonial rule.
Surprisingly, for the first time in 50 years, the Sarawak Government observed July 22 this year as Liberation Day.
Kuching blogger Lina Soo organised a conference at the same time on Sabah and Sarawak’s 50 years in Malaysia. Jeffrey was among the speakers. She moderates a 916 Occupation Day Page in Facebook.
The UK-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BOPIM), headed by former Star Sabah deputy chairman Daniel John Jambun, has been making the rounds of several western capitals – Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva and London – raising awareness on “Malaya’s colonisation of Sabah and Sarawak”.
The BOPIM campaign has been inspired by the contents of declassified colonial documents on Malaysia released in London but not by Putrajaya.
These documents appear to indicate that the British were convinced that Malaya would colonise Sabah and Sarawak after they left.
Daniel John hopes to hit the international circuit again soon but has been handicapped somewhat since Hindraf Makkal Sakthi chairman P. Waythamoorthy joined the government.
Waythamoorthy used to be BOPIM’s honourary international adviser in the United Nations, the US State Department and the House of Commons in the UK.
There’s a case in the High Court of Borneo claiming that the Petroleum Development Act is unconstitutional and illegal.
Activists are alleging that Putrajaya has been stealing Sabah and Sarawak oil and gas since 1976. They want the fields returned before they run dry in 15 years and compensation at eight per cent interest per annum compounded yearly for the stolen commodities.
Other running themes in FaceBook and emails are that Malaysia is a failure – lack of security, poverty and unflattering comparisons with Singapore and Brunei are being cited.
Among others are Sept 16 is Occupation Day since there was “no referendum” on Malaysia; Malaysia is a Bad British Idea; the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry is set to be a Great Whitewash and the UN should revisit Malaysia in Borneo following allegations of colonisation.
The betting in Sabah and Sarawak is that Putrajaya’s own “guilty conscience on Malaysia”, will eventually kill them in Borneo.
The activists are realistic enough to be convinced that it would not be enough to say “boo” when the day comes for “Putrajaya to flee from Borneo in sheer terror with its tails between its legs”.
COMMENT
It is interesting to note that Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein did not mention Sarawak when he said that his ministry would help the Home Ministry identify anti-Kuala Lumpur instigator groups who want Sabah to leave Malaysia and are politicising the issue on Facebook.Obviously, it would be bad news for the powers-that-be to mention Sabah and Sarawak in the same breath when challenging any change advocated, however, remote, in their current status in the Federation of Malaysia.
Hishammuddin was speaking to the media after a parade in conjunction with the 80th Malaysian Armed Forces Day at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
The Defence Minister said the talk on taking Sabah out of Malaysia had been going on for the past several years and its promoters evidently getting bolder because of official inaction.
He reiterated the heroic efforts made by security personnel from Peninsular Malaysia in beating back a bunch of claimants from the Sulu islands who seized a remote village in Lahad Datu in Sabah not too long ago.
Hishammuddin stopped short of issuing the usual threats as in the past, but was careful at the same time not to appear to be too toothless in Umno’s fixed deposit states.
After all, he is facing a six-cornered fight to retain one of the three Umno vice-presidencies.
Hishammuddin also warned the separatists against flogging the “Sabah for Sabahans” theme, last played up in the late 80s and early 90s by the then ruling Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
No one remembers the old PBS battle cry being replayed in recent years. Indeed, the nearest to the theme are constant reminders in Facebook in particular illegal immigrants with and without MyKads are a crushing burden and whose presence is no longer tolerable in Sabah.
Former Petagas state assemblyman James Ligunjang was furious with Hishammuddin for putting the Sabah for Sabahans theme under government scrutiny.
“If Sabah is not for Sabahans, then for who?” he asked rhetorically in a text message as soon as news of the Defence Minister’s controversial remarks broke in Kota Kinabalu.
Ligunjang, was once executive secretary of PBS which he ditched in 1994 for the breakaway Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS), now the United PasokMomogun KadazanDusunMurut Organisation (Upko).
He like many Sabahans and Sarawakians feel that “it is high time that we stood on our own two feet”.
Ligunjang said this approach was the only way for the two states to realise their full potential.
It is common knowledge that anti-Malaysia comments from Sabah and Sarawak in Facebook originate from these two states.
Indeed, these comments may be viewed by Putrajaya as bordering on treason or sedition and calculated to pit people against each other on both sides of the South China Sea and cause public alarm.
These comments are more a reflection of the perennial question in Malaysian Borneo since Sept 16 1963: “How did we get into this situation (being in a Federation with Peninsular Malaysia on the other side of the South China Sea)?”
Such sentiments translate into Facebook Pages like “Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia”, moderated by Doris Jones, a UK-based lawyer from Sabah.
There have been calls in Facebook from Peninsular Malaysia for her to be arrested.
While Hishammuddin’s pre-occupation is with retaining his Umno vice-presidency, he is also capitalising on the Achilles Heel of the ruling Malay elite that they would not want Sabah and Sarawak issue to challenge their so-called dignity and Malay political supremacy and dominance.
However, there’s nothing that Putrajaya can do about the numerous anti-Malaysia comments in Facebook or emails circulating in cyberspace.
On the one hand, Putrajaya would not want to make heroes out of zeroes.
The more Putrajaya shrieks in public about the issue of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, the worse it will be for them as it will be tantamount to opening the Pandora’s Box.
Putrajaya first pretended to be deaf, dumb and blind when activists in Sabah and Sarawak started “wagging their tails”.
They pretended to be much bigger than anything that can be thrown at them.
Meanwhile, multiple themes on Malaysia are being promoted by individuals locally or groups based abroad and which certainly do not run foul of the law.
Besides the “we want to stand on our own two feet” lobby, State Reform Party (Star) Sabah chairman and Bingkor state assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan, for one, has been questioning Putrajaya on the Federal Government’s non-compliance of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
Jeffrey has long been chanting the same mantra since the late 80s and was even incarcerated for this under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1990 for two two-year terms, the second cut short in time for the 1994 state elections during which he won Bingkor for the first time.
Then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad openly accused Jeffrey of plotting to take Sabah out of Malaysia to be its president. Jeffrey, upon his release, claimed that Mahathir advised him not to tell the people what they did not know and not to make the people smart.
Mahathir, in retaliation, alleged that RM4 billion – apparently the difference between spot prices and long-term contract prices – went missing during Jeffrey’s tenure as Sabah Foundation director.
Jeffrey has denied the allegation and welcomed an investigation. A PriceWaterHouse audit found no criminal wrongdoing on the RM4 billion.
An unrepentant Jeffrey wants the 20/18 points in the Malaysia Agreement to be honoured – a Federation of Malaya and a Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak as one country with two systems like in China.
Jeffrey’s Borneo Heritage Foundation has agreed to sponsor an international forum Malaysia 50 Years On – Expectation vs Reality in Kota Kinabalu on Oct 5.
At least nine papers will be presented by local and international speakers. The conference is being organised by former Borneo Mail managing director and former Star Sabah deputy chairman Paul Voon.
Former Sabah state secretary Simon Sipaun has been preaching, even after being questioned by police not so long ago, that “life was better in Sabah before Malaysia”.
Sipaun’s beef is that “the people in Sabah are living in fear”, their country swamped by illegal immigrants as racial and religious polarisation a la Malaya takes root.
Sipaun will moderate the conference. He will also present a paper on his favourite theme in a late September conference on “Malaysia 50 Years” at the National University of Singapore.
Some activists want to restore the sovereignty of Sabah and Sarawak won on Aug 31, 1963 and July 22, 1963 through the Declaration of Independence from British colonial rule.
Surprisingly, for the first time in 50 years, the Sarawak Government observed July 22 this year as Liberation Day.
Kuching blogger Lina Soo organised a conference at the same time on Sabah and Sarawak’s 50 years in Malaysia. Jeffrey was among the speakers. She moderates a 916 Occupation Day Page in Facebook.
The UK-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BOPIM), headed by former Star Sabah deputy chairman Daniel John Jambun, has been making the rounds of several western capitals – Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva and London – raising awareness on “Malaya’s colonisation of Sabah and Sarawak”.
The BOPIM campaign has been inspired by the contents of declassified colonial documents on Malaysia released in London but not by Putrajaya.
These documents appear to indicate that the British were convinced that Malaya would colonise Sabah and Sarawak after they left.
Daniel John hopes to hit the international circuit again soon but has been handicapped somewhat since Hindraf Makkal Sakthi chairman P. Waythamoorthy joined the government.
Waythamoorthy used to be BOPIM’s honourary international adviser in the United Nations, the US State Department and the House of Commons in the UK.
There’s a case in the High Court of Borneo claiming that the Petroleum Development Act is unconstitutional and illegal.
Activists are alleging that Putrajaya has been stealing Sabah and Sarawak oil and gas since 1976. They want the fields returned before they run dry in 15 years and compensation at eight per cent interest per annum compounded yearly for the stolen commodities.
Other running themes in FaceBook and emails are that Malaysia is a failure – lack of security, poverty and unflattering comparisons with Singapore and Brunei are being cited.
Among others are Sept 16 is Occupation Day since there was “no referendum” on Malaysia; Malaysia is a Bad British Idea; the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry is set to be a Great Whitewash and the UN should revisit Malaysia in Borneo following allegations of colonisation.
The betting in Sabah and Sarawak is that Putrajaya’s own “guilty conscience on Malaysia”, will eventually kill them in Borneo.
The activists are realistic enough to be convinced that it would not be enough to say “boo” when the day comes for “Putrajaya to flee from Borneo in sheer terror with its tails between its legs”.
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