Role of Sabah and Sarawak in nation-building

Role of Sabah and Sarawak in nation-building

By Arnold Puyok

TO BUILD a nation is not easy. It took the Americans more than 200 years to finally find their identity. Hence, there surely is a lot of work to be done to transform Malaysia into a solid nation. It is indeed a work-in-progress. We must remember, Malaysia is just 49 years old (from its founding in 1963), way too young compared with major countries, such as the United States, China and India, just to name a few.

In order to build a successful Malaysian nation, Malaysians must be willing to put aside their political and cultural differences. However, this will be an enormous challenge as not only are Malaysians divided politically and culturally, they are also divided regionally. A case in point is Sabahans and Sarawakians who are separated from their peninsular Malaysian counterparts by the South China Sea.

The main challenge confronting the government of the day (and any government to come) is to bridge what I call the political and cultural gap in Malaysian society. This endeavour must start with the effort to truly integrate Sabah and Sarawak into the Federation of Malaysia. Since 2008, Sabah and Sarawak are considered by many as the ruling party Barisan Nasional’s (BN) “fixed deposits”. The label came after the East Malaysian states helped the BN return to power by contributing 56 parliamentary seats in the 2008 general election.

These seats were crucial in ensuring the BN’s slim electoral victory. Many analysts (including this writer) have predicted that the BN will return to power but not necessarily with Sabah and Sarawak as its fixed deposits anymore, depending on changes in the dynamics of local politics. Sabah and Sarawak’s fixed deposits status has brought them to national prominence. Sabah, in particular, has been receiving numerous development assistances from the Federal Government.

Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan Sabah received the largest financial allocation of more than RM16 billion. More Sabahans were also appointed to hold important positions in the federal cabinet. Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, for instance, was appointed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to helm the influential Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Afdal, the Ministry of Rural Development. These cabinet portfolios are normally reserved for key Umno leaders from peninsular Malaysia.

Despite the special treatment given to Sabah and Sarawak, many are not happy with the fixed deposits label. They ask: if Sabah and Sarawak did not contribute the 56 seats to the national parliament, would they receive the same treatment today? Would the BN withdraw its fixed deposits (special treatment) when Sabah and Sarawak could no longer offer better interest rates (electoral support)?

When the democratically elected PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) was in power, it was pushed into the political wilderness by the Mahathir administration simply because the party was championing state rights and autonomy. This caused Sabah to lag behind in terms of infrastructural development. Despite peninsular Malaysia’s marked development progress, Sabah and Sarawak are still way behind.

It is important for the government to set politics aside for the sake of nation-building. Sabah and Sarawak must not be regarded as fixed deposits anymore. Sabahans and Sarawakians have suffered a lot due to “bad politics” played by self-serving leaders. The Federal Government must not alienate Sabahans and Sarawakians just because they are politically and culturally different. Sabahans and Sarawakians are loyal Malaysian citizens who want to be treated equally as their fellow Malaysians in the peninsular Malaysia.

If the government is serious about building a strong Malaysian nation, Sabahans and Sarawakians teach us that we all can live in peace and harmony if we are willing to accept each other’s political and cultural differences. In Sabah and Sarawak, ethnic tolerance is high. There have never been any ethnic riots in Sabah and Sarawak throughout Malaysia’s 49 years of history. Ethnic harmony is intact thanks to inter-ethnic marriages. Regional identity plays a more important role than do ethnicity and religion. It does not matter whether one is Kadazandusun, Bajau, Murut, Lundayeh or Bisaya, racial identity is not as strong as in peninsular Malaysia.

While many of the indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak have embraced either Islam or Christianity, they take pride in their cultural roots. That is why when the “Allah” issue came about, Sabahan Muslims came to defend the right of their Christian counterparts to use the word “Allah".

Najib is correct when he said that Sabah is a model for the 1Malaysia policy even though many acknowledge the fact that 1Malaysia existed in Sabah and Sarawak long before it was conceived. The introduction of the 1Malaysia concept and the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak into the country’s mainstream development by the Najib Administration is a step in the right direction towards building a Malaysian nation.

However, this must be done by acknowledging the religious and cultural diversity of the people of Sabah and Sarawak. The journey of building a Malaysian nation started long ago when the country’s founding fathers drafted a constitution that respects the democratic right of every Malaysian citizen such as the right to religious beliefs, the right to vote, the right to form a political party and so on.

The people in Sabah and Sarawak were also accorded with certain rights due to their religious and cultural uniqueness. If the powers-that-be recognise these rights and make every effort to educate Malaysians to respect and accept them, we are in the right track to building a successful nation.

The original version of this posting can be found at http://fz.com/content/role-sabah-and-sarawak-nation-building.