Fed gov't need to act on Sabah's grievances, not threaten -- BOPIM

KOTA KINABALU - The Borneo's Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BOPIM) feels that the federal leaders need to shed their ignorance about the pent-up feelings of Sabahans and stop being arrogance in dealing with the anti-Malayan sentiments in the Borneo states.

Its President, Daniel John Jambun, said in a statement here that the reason Sabah-Peninsula understanding and harmony are fast disappearing is because of the arrogance of Malayan leaders who continue to disregard how Sabahans feel about the way they are being treated in Malaysia. He cited the "threat" by Defense Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hishammuddin Tun Hussein to act on "so-called proponents of Sabah's secession from Malaysia is a perfect example of this arrogance."

"Hishamuddin is approaching the whole issue with the assumption that Sabahans would be cowed into silence," Jambun said. "What he needs to do is to show genuine conciliatory statement to cool things down instead of making the situation worse with threats and intimidation. In fact, he is missing the forest for the trees, seeing a small part of what's really happening without bothering to look at the deep-rooted and widespread causes of why Sabahans are so unhappy in Malaysia.

"What he needs to do is to use all the government machineries to look for a just, conciliatory and lasting solution of the Sabah problem. This can be done by mobilizing the many functionaries of the federal government to undertake a collaborative survey on why so many Sabahans are so unhappy as Malaysians and immediately act on a lasting solution. For starters, there are, among others, the National Unity and Integration Ministry, the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), and not to forget the Sabah BN leaders which can help the federal cabinet get a clear picture of why Sabahans are seething is anger," Jambun said. "Hishamuddin has the choices of responding with love and compassion or reacting with a sledgehammer.

"The fact is we in Sabah feel that our problems are caused by the federal government and not by us. The crux of the matter is this: as far as we are concerned we are the victims of federal injustices," Jambun said. "And the reasons are many. And as the party with all the investigative and auto-feedback machineries in place. the federal leadership should now have a comprehensive list of Sabahans' grievances. Memos after memos about the Sabah problems had been submitted all the ways since the 1980s, and countless interviews, articles and books have been written about them, so the federal government should be ashamed for pretending to be ignorant about them.

"To name a few: (1) The condescending attitude of the federal leaders who keep treating Sabahans as if we are still living on trees, (2) the insulting references to Sabah and Sarawak as if we not part of the federation, (e.g. "throughout the country including Sabah and Sarawak), (2) the shattered hopes and broken dreams of Sabah after joining in the formation of the federation (through the relegation of Sabah's nation status into one of 13 unitary states, (3) denial of the promises of full Borneonization, (4) reneging on the promise of having no official religion in Sabah in perpetuity, (5) the day-light robberies of Sabah resources, including 95 percent of our tax revenues which were promised to be fully ours in the 20 Points, (6) the glaring imbalance in allocation of development funds which by far favour the Peninsular, (7) the denial and neglect of  Sabah history in the school text books 's, (8) the twisting of Malaysia's true history in the school text books in which it is still claimed that Sabah gained independence by joining Malaysia, or that we have been independent for 55 years, (8) the denials of the Project IC by federal leaders, (9) the descent of Sabah into Malaysia's poorest state which shame us inconsolably in the face of what Brunei and Singapore had achieved without being in Malaysia, (10) the injustice of the Petroleum Act which more and more of us today realize to be an illegal act, designed to rob our resources, and so on and so on.

"As to the issue of Malaysia becoming a developed nation by 2020, and the claim by Sabah Umno leaders that Sabah will be developed first, that is by 2018, we all know these claims are lies and impossible to achieve in view of all the economic problems we are facing in Sabah and Sarawak. If any fully developed status is ever achieved, it will only be for Malaya because it is almost at that developed status, thanks to all the resources being hauled up from Sabah and Sarawak.

"Sabah and Sarawak will remain the feeder states, feeding the people in Malaya where natural resources have already been mostly exhausted -- tin mining had long become history, rubber tapping is a shadow of its past, and what remains are the oil palm plantations. We continue to be insulted by Malayans, but they forget that without resources from Sabah and Sarawak, they will suffer and have to tighten their belts," he said.

Jambun believes that if the federal government proceeds to take punitive actions against those expressing resentment against the federal government, such an action will not frighten and silence the unhappy Sabahans, but will cause the opposite effect of Sabahans becoming angrier and more resentful toward the federal leaders.