Sir William Goode, the last British Governor, said on 31 August 1963:
..."Today is a historic day for Sabah. It marks the beginning of self-government and independence and the end of colonialism ..."
For Sabah and Sabahans, this is an important historic date celebrated by Sabahans 52 years ago. It should also be declared a Sabah public holiday to mark its importance.
Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya should honour their Independence day separately as it has different significance for them
The attitude and apathy of the Sabah government in failing to honour and celebrate Sabah’s Independence on 31st August compared to the stand taken by the Sarawak government, is extremely disappointing to say the least.
To compound matters, the Sabah government ignored Sabah’s own Independence Day and celebrated the Independence of Malaya disguising itself this year as “National Day” without reference to the number of years. The discarding of the number of years is also similarly adopted for the celebration of Malaysia Day this year.
“National Day” should be a common date for the three regions combining together. And that should be on “Malaysia Day”, September 16th and not based on 31st August 1957 which has no significance for Sabah and Sarawak.
It’s an undisputed historical fact that the Federation of Malaya gained its independence from the British on 31st August 1957. Whereas the Federation of Malaysia was formed on 16th September 1963 and Malaysia was never colonized or gained its independence.
It is the biggest lie to say that Umno leaders fought for the independence of Malaysia. Nothing is further from the truth.
“We can’t manipulate history to suit Malaya's own interest without considering Sabah and Sarawak for without them there would be no Malaysia” stressed Dr. Jeffrey.
The federal government and its leaders should stop manipulating history and whatever is happening in the country and start putting things right by telling the truth and disclose the truth on Malaysia and Sabah’s history. While they are at it putting things right, they should also start solving our national political, economic and social problems as well.
The federal government should honour its commitment to the founding Fathers of Malaysia. They need to face the issues head-on and not sweep it under the carpet anymore as it is been 52 years and not treat Malaysians as fools anymore.
If the federal government cannot honour Malaysia, then Malaysia might as well be dissolved as it is only benefitting one party, Malaya, at the expense of the other parties, Sabah and Sarawak.
Alternatively, we should be brave enough to confront the discontentment and unhappiness of Sabahans and Sarawakians by reviewing the Malaysia Agreement and rewriting a new Federal Constitution.
The failure of the Sabah government in failing to honour and celebrate Sabah Independence Day this year does not augur well for the future of the government and Sabahans.
But Sabahans are NOT taking things lying down. On their own, Sabah Day or Independence Day was celebrated with a huge crowd in Kundasang by the newly formed Sabah coalition, the United Sabah Alliance or USA on 31st August 2015. It’s a sign of better things to come for Sabah and Sabahans.
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