Time for a new beginning

For too long our country and our people have suffered in the hands of an incompetent government.

What could have been a proud and dignified nation with economic prosperity to boast have instead become a subject of ridicule and scorn. A nation that has so much to offer, so much to achieve became a pauper state. This is a product of a deceitful occupying government who promises a bright future, but rendered a malicious agenda of conquest for selfish gains.

They came and they took advantage of our peaceful ignorance to guarantee deprivation until capitulation. Sabahans promising destiny ultimately defined by a government motivated by greed, religion and racial supremacy creed; which is a recipe for disaster. Here is a tale of the blind leading the blind.

This is not what Sabahans had bargained for when the British conspired with Malaya to form a federation in the interest of economic prosperity and security. What may have been a glorious ambition for the sake of peace, prosperity and security, have in fact, been hijacked by racist and religious supremacist to gain conquest and subjugate a nation into servitude.

This is the nature of a medieval mind set to cowardly obtain loot through supremacy tenets. An unfortunate circumstance conspired by racist and bigots in the Malayan government. They therefore conspired to usurp the powers and promises of a noble Malayan leader in Tunku Abdul Rahman. What happened next became a sad story of deceit and unscrupulous acts of terrorism; thus Sabah, became a prized possession to be controlled and manipulated for selfish gains.

That is the Malaya we have come to know. An evil Samaritan! A factor in history in which the British today would be ashamed had they known what happened to North Borneo and its' people.

We Sabahans deserved humanity's respect. We can no longer allow the blind to lead us. We must now lead the way! It is time for a new beginning.

This is what this author wish to discussed in this article that we must now look into the future and create a new beginning that no longer succumb to the dictates of Malaya. I am here to tell you that we can do it; that we have enough talents among us to create a prosperous nation.

Although, we have bad experiences in the past, it is time to put new faith into our capable leaders. It is time to have confidence on genuine local leaders who truly has the interest of our people and our country in their hearts. This is not a time to be experimenting with Malayan parties and leaders. It is a time we stand tall on our own.

We have a solution that can address the problems of the past. In fact, we have several solutions that will one day make our country a thing of pride for all Sabahans. The future today is in our hands.

These solutions are something that are truly guaranteed to bring happiness and prosperity to all Sabahans. All we have to do is show the world that we wish to have a new government led by local party SAPP.

Before you jump into conclusion, let me tell you why SAPP is the right party to lead our government and take us to that great future that we all wish for.

SAPP is a party where genuine patriots have converge upon to become the tool of change and the provost of growth and development for Sabah. It is because of such talented people that SAPP have come up with ideas and plans to solve the crisis in Sabah. It is these ideas and plans that this author wish to state. It is therefore critical that we give our complete trust to local party SAPP to represent us in implementing these programs and policies of change and economic growth.

What I am about to write are secrets to a recipe, but this author is willing to state it here for these are recipes our people are badly in need of. We must be willing to share the secret of success to guarantee success. Unlike others, SAPP speaks of solutions to our problems. Most of us are tired of the false accusations, personal attacks, innuendos, and corruptions that are rampant in our political discourse. SAPP today is a party that speaks about the solutions. This is the traits of a party we can trust. It means, that, much effort had been utilized to come up with these wise solutions.

The 1st major solution is the implementation of Sabah IC. Sabah IC will empower true Sabahans to face a challenging future. After 30 years of Malaya's deceitful programs such as "Project IC" and "Divide and Rule tactic" "Ketuanan Melayu" and "Mass Islamic conversion." Sabah IC will unite us all and it will elevate our political and economic consciousness as confident Sabahans. With a new identity, Sabahans will then be poised to take on new roles to further the progress and development of Sabah. We can focus our policies towards growth and prosperity.

The 2nd major solution is autonomy. In this case we merely wish to reclaim what was already ours to begin with. This time we will implement fully our autonomic rights as expressly stated in the 20 points Malaysian federation agreement. Malaysia must understand that being honest and honorable is the solution for a stronger modern Malaysia.

With our autonomy fully restored, our government can fast forward to develop sabah into prosperity and into a develop country. Malaya should realized by now that they do not have the best answers to bring about prosperity and reforms. We cannot afford to follow in the foot steps of Malaya when they are wroth with ignorance and incompetence when it comes to the affairs of civilization.

For Malaya to move forward it must discard the use of race and religion in government, but as long as Malaya is in the hands of UMNO there is little chance for this to happen. So we cannot afford to follow such old fashion and incompetent method of governance.

The 3rd major solution is the respect and implementation of a multiracial government based on merits. These will ensure that all racial groups in Sabah have the opportunity as everyone else to achieve their dreams. When government personnel are chosen based on qualification and merits, the administration of government will guarantee efficiency and transparency. This is what happened in Singapore and this will happen to Sabah when local SAPP becomes the government.

This is in line with our value of "equality for all." When we understand this basic humanistic creed, we will develop a mutually beneficial respect for one another. We will treat each other as humans and allow common law to guide our code of conduct that is conducive to a civilized society. Such mind set will catapult our human resource to face the modernization and growth of our society.

We will be better prepared to manage our new found prosperity and live more fulfilling lives. This will take us into a world where we can now appreciate the arts and humanities. We can build a culture that is rich and sophisticated. We will become the next South Korea of the world.

The 4th major solution is the increase of our oil royalty to 20% instead of 5%. This will immediately give us a financial boost that we can utilize to build the necessary infrastructure to improve the lives of our people. We can effectively full fill "Maslow's hierarchy" of human progression. From here the ball will roll to ensure the "domino effect." Other programs and solutions will then be forth coming to meet the various societal upkeep once the basic infrastructures become functional.

The 5th major solution is to protect the native land rights (NCR). This is an important governmental act to guarantee natives of Borneo are fully compensated and respected for being natives. As a marginalized people by an unscrupulous government of the day, the natives have been deprived of their basic property and rights. To set things right, justice for the natives must first be addressed.

The 6th major solution is Education. The SAPP government w ill have a comprehensive education system that will strengthen and prepare the people to face the challenges of the 21st century. All primary and secondary students will be empowered with the ability to speak and write English, Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia so they can face the international business environment with confidence.

Students with the necessary qualification and talents will be given opportunities to further their studies abroad as long as they qualify and get acceptance from such prestigious universities in the world. This is how we guarantee the level of quality staffing to ensure growth and development continues to excel.

Our education system will have a program to fit all levels of scholastic abilities and guide students appropriately to ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills set to guarantee their economic survival in society. Such wise preparatory response to societal norms guarantees a strong civilization.

Education to prepare students and adults to utilized modern tools will also be available to the public to ensure everyone knows the proper standard of conduct to ensure our citizens conduct themselves in a dignified manner as expected in a civilized modern society.

The 7th major solution is the Tourism industry. A complete program must be in place to address the tourism industry. Basic tourism industry infrastructure must be created foremost. All tourism related offerings must accede or meet international standards. This would mean basic civil facilities and public behaviour must meet international standards.

Our tourism programs must be customer oriented. The Tourism agency must be run like an efficient for profit organizations. The goal must be a tourism offering that is at par with other develop countries tourism industries. In order to achieve this goal, society must be educated in the norms of the tourism industry. This is another step to ensure we will become a 1st world nation in just a matter of 10 to 15 years. This is a guaranteeing factor in the growth and prosperity of a nation and its society.

The 8th major solution is the growth of the economic sector. Common sense policies must be implemented to encourage and boost the economic performance indicators. Conditions and opportunities will be created to ensure foreign investment become a major investment factor in Sabah.

This will further spur the growth of the manufacturing sector. Our natural resources will be managed and sustained in a systematic and transparent way that ensure the public is very well informed on how we managed our natural resources.

Self sustainability economic programs will be created such as modern agricultural projects to guarantee the wellbeing of Sabahans even in times of a global recession or a global crisis. This will ensure Sabah can stand on its own in times of a crisis. The ability to do this will also be the proof that Sabah has thus become a developed country.

These are elements of growth in the economic sectors that are necessary in the implementation of basic and premium infrastructures to spearhead its developments. Such infrastructures consists of public roads and transportations, electricity, water and sewage, building construction and other types of construction to facilitate request by the private sector such as hotels and technologies such as consumer applications, internet communication facilities, data management and storage. All these bring about a combo growth element that must be managed to discourage the existence of bottlenecks in the economic system progression.


The 9th major solution is addressing the issue of corruption in government and our society.

Whatever programs or policies are implemented there must be accompanied by a policy on corruption. There must not be any room for corruption to take root.

One of the immediate solutions to ensure corruptions are discourage is to create a public sector salary structure that are competitive with the salary structure of the private sector. A task force must be created to supervise how this salary structures can be implemented efficiently. A current precedent to emulate can be based on the Singapore government's experienced and adjust to meet the realities in Sabah.

The 10th major solution is security within our boundaries. Only when there is total security can everything else be implemented without delays. Security will be organized to ensure the there are efficiency and professionalism. Security tasks must be treated professionally by professionally trained people.

All security personnel¡¯s are given jobs based on merit and qualification. Security personnel must be educated, skilful and honourable to guarantee its integrity as security agencies. Only when there is professionalism can there be a guaranteed route towards to become a member of the developed world.

These are the ten most critical solutions that we can expect from a new SAPP government. They will get the ball rolling right at the get-go to guarantee we have a bright future ahead. Such solutions are what make SAPP the only option for us this coming PRU13.

It is critical that we give SAPP a resounding victory in the coming election. The future is in our hands. What I have shown you are the tools to our future. No matter what race or religion you belong too, these solutions are a one size fits all solutions. These are practical and realistic solutions for Sabah. These solutions are none-biased. It is good for all Sabahans.

Anyone who thinks of a solution that carries a racial and religious prejudice agenda is on the wrong side of justice and equality for all. Such biased solutions will be detrimental to our society. There is a reason we must reject UMNO-BN, because it is a prejudicial regime. If we truly wish for a prosperous society for all, than we must choose SAPP as our government. It is time to put our trust on the right people with the right thinking. We must not miss this chance to make our dreams come true.

By Wilfred Gaban,
Director at PIPPA ¨C Progressive Institute of Public Policy Analysis
President of Kadu Foundation ¨C An NGO dedicated to the health and welfare of the
Momogun community