GEORGE TOWN: A group of prominent politicians and social activists from East Malaysia are seriously contemplating pulling out Sabah and Sarawak from the Federation of Malaysia.
They are planning to take up their case to the United Nations to hold a referendum on the status of the Borneo states as independent nations.
They no longer want their states to be under the clutches of the Umno-led Putrajaya administration.
The group has already sought legal advice from the international community to explore all orderly and democratic means to legally declare Sabah and Sarawak as separate sovereign states.
Sources said the group was keen to avoid any civil unrest, bloodshed and armed conflict with the central government, features usually associated with separatist movements.
“They want to resolve the pressing issue by peaceful and civilised means,” said the source.
It’s learnt that about seven representatives from the group met London-based Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) chairman P Waytha Moorthy in Indonesia early this week to discuss the matter.
Sources close to the group said the activists sought Waytha Moorthy’s help to facilitate their imminent representation in the UN.
It’s learnt that Waytha Moorthy had agreed to assist them, with the help of several influential international organisations.
Waytha Moorthy recently facilitated a group of activists to air their grouses and grievances against the federal government at the UK Parliament.
'Systematic looting and plundering'
The group of activists are deeply perturbed by the federal government’s alleged violations of the states’ rights, interests and benefits for more than four decades since the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.
“The group is angry over the systematic looting and plundering of the states’ wealth by Umno and its cronies,” said a source.
Sabah, Sarawak, Malaya and Singapore formerly joined Malaysia in 1963. However, Singapore left the Federation in 1965.
The Sabah and Sarawak activists believe that just like Singapore, their states too can pull out from Malaysia.
Sabah and Sarawak are two natural resources rich provinces in Malaysia, with massive wealth potentials in oil reserves and forestry.
However, Sabahans and Sarawakians are convinced that they have remained poor due to the federal government's “manipulation and usurpation” of their power to self-determine their own affairs.
Unhappy over petro dollars
T
hey are crying foul over the mere five percent royalty cut received for their own oil, while the Putrajaya administration “steals” 95 percent of petro dollars.
hey are crying foul over the mere five percent royalty cut received for their own oil, while the Putrajaya administration “steals” 95 percent of petro dollars.“People from both Sabah and Sarawak realise that they are being short-changed. They know there has been daylight robbery of their god-given richness,” said a source.
Another contentious issue is the existence of an estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrants as rightful citizens in Sabah.
Sabahans termed the illegal immigrants, mostly Filipino and Indonesian Muslims, as former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s legacy.
“The government since under Mahathir has systematically brought in these aliens and granted them citizenships. These aliens are now legal MyKad holders in Sabah. It’s absolutely outrageous and ludicrous,” said the source.
The illegal immigrant issue in Sarawak is not as disturbing as in Sabah although it is equally damaging.
'Raping of forest wealth'
The major issue in Sarawak is the “raping of state forest wealth” by the Umno-backed Taib Mahmud’s government at the expense of the indigenous population.
The natives are also disgruntled by the usurpation of their customary land rights by the authorities despite a recent apex court ruling against it.
Sabahans and Sarawakians are also said to be peeved with the “Malay-nisation and Islamisation” process of their states’ bureaucracy and political systems.
Activists claimed that the federal government had appointed native Muslims to helm various ministerial portfolios and government departments to hasten and fasten this process.
“These Muslim leaders and bureaucratic heads are puppets dancing to the tune played by their masters in Putrajaya,” said the source.
Some comment/reply from Sarawakan / Sabahan
Reply 1
" Re: Push for Sabah, S'wak's independence: Next stop UN
by disk79 on 2010/4/5 13:52:28think before we speak. its not as easy as 1...2...3...then we are all in heaven. sarawak boleh..main bola pun kita tak sokong our own state team...berdikari? of course...but are we ready? economically? socially? politically? no more oil reserved (til 2018- 8years from now), lodging industry stil in replanting process...FDI...wah...to many new factories being build hoh!! then it depend on TAXES...yup...more TAXES for us to pay."
Reply 2
By Triplex
" WARNING! this is just my imagination, do not take personally. I do not support nor do support the proposal. i prefer being neutral because i think its ok the way it is now.
IF IT HAPPEN.on the bright side, the wealth will all be ours, swkian and sabahan. so, we can develop our country better. we have so much potential. sabah becomes a famous tourist spot. kuching becomes a captivating city. kuching definately will be the administration centre, a capital city. because the current situation seems like swk is more dominant. our currency will be ringgau. name of our country, hmmm.. haven't think yet. but surely the country will be more like a liberal or western version of malaysia. its a more freedom country compared to malaysia but with some of the identity and mentality still stick with us something like singapore. big corporations (GLC) will be kicked out, replaced by our own. eh, so many things to be done..... TT_____TT our celebrity will be more like indonesia because there's more freedom. NTV7 will be the number one channel. english would probably be a prime language together with bahasa melayu.
the downturn, some group of people would probably retaliate because already biasa get a lot advantages and the mindset is actually almost in tune with malaysian. another group of people will fight back because they think they deserve the power. then, the other group will sneak in between, so-called peacemaker, then slowly they control the country.. maybe creating another diaspora. then there will be bloodshed. the relationship between races will be sour. the beginning of the country will be hard because we start all over again but luckily, being the anak angkat of malaysia, we already have the basis of managing the country properly (hopefully). population wise thats our weakness, too little people for a big land. (many people i know married to peninsular people and a lot settle there for other reasons adding to the slow population growth). still so much to be done to create a country. at least our capital city must be on par with KL in all terms. then, our relationship with malaysia will be sour. can we be like singapore? self sufficient at first. not sure. they did a very good job. malaysia will also get the tempias. but we will be affected most. economically will be hard for the first years.in later years, more forest is cleared since we need more land.bumi celebrities will try luck in malaysia because the market is bigger and the local market is lame like in spore and brunei.
please don't take this personally. its just what pops out my mind :) "
IF IT HAPPEN.on the bright side, the wealth will all be ours, swkian and sabahan. so, we can develop our country better. we have so much potential. sabah becomes a famous tourist spot. kuching becomes a captivating city. kuching definately will be the administration centre, a capital city. because the current situation seems like swk is more dominant. our currency will be ringgau. name of our country, hmmm.. haven't think yet. but surely the country will be more like a liberal or western version of malaysia. its a more freedom country compared to malaysia but with some of the identity and mentality still stick with us something like singapore. big corporations (GLC) will be kicked out, replaced by our own. eh, so many things to be done..... TT_____TT our celebrity will be more like indonesia because there's more freedom. NTV7 will be the number one channel. english would probably be a prime language together with bahasa melayu.
the downturn, some group of people would probably retaliate because already biasa get a lot advantages and the mindset is actually almost in tune with malaysian. another group of people will fight back because they think they deserve the power. then, the other group will sneak in between, so-called peacemaker, then slowly they control the country.. maybe creating another diaspora. then there will be bloodshed. the relationship between races will be sour. the beginning of the country will be hard because we start all over again but luckily, being the anak angkat of malaysia, we already have the basis of managing the country properly (hopefully). population wise thats our weakness, too little people for a big land. (many people i know married to peninsular people and a lot settle there for other reasons adding to the slow population growth). still so much to be done to create a country. at least our capital city must be on par with KL in all terms. then, our relationship with malaysia will be sour. can we be like singapore? self sufficient at first. not sure. they did a very good job. malaysia will also get the tempias. but we will be affected most. economically will be hard for the first years.in later years, more forest is cleared since we need more land.bumi celebrities will try luck in malaysia because the market is bigger and the local market is lame like in spore and brunei.
please don't take this personally. its just what pops out my mind :) "
Reply 3
" Sarawak is definately not ready. maybe another 50, 100 years?
sarawak has no army/navy/air force to defend itself. that's of highest priority. we cannot depend on UN to help us all the time, look at Timor Leste.
If we gain independece, and lets say we still have a lot of untapped oil resources, who is going to extract our oil? Do we have enough experts to do it? Or do we rely on companies like Petronas, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron... and other international petroleum companies to help us do it?
Personally, I believe, we are no where close to ready, and even if we are ready, we will not succeed. Would Malaysia let us go? (we are a cash-printing machine) When I was younger, I always loved the Singaporean leadership and have many times dreamed of the possibility that Sarawak gains independance and forms a country with Singapore. Sarawak has plentiful resources, Singapore has the economy and leadership, together will form the ideal, if not perfect country.
Now, I am proud to be a Malaysian, proud to be a Kuchingnite. It would be best, in my opinion, to have the Hong Kong model - Sarawak SAR (Sarawak Special Administrative Region), and have our own leadership, and of course, have control of our own petroleum profits.
If not, forming a country with Singapore would be even better. We get their visa-free status for most countries (USA, Canada, Australia, China...), and we have a military backed by the USA (i think). And of course, hopefully they don't steal all our natural resources for their benefits as well.
About the currency, I believe it would be so much more beneficial to peg onto a currency as strong as the Australian Dollar or the Singapore Dolloar. Having just a Sarawakian/Sabahan currency is too weak and easily speculated by deep pocketers. "
Reply 4
No Way For Sabah And Sarawak To Leave Malaysia
Posted by MD at 2:08 AM
According Prof. Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, Sabah and Sarawak cannot withdraw from the Federation. He iterated that joining a federation is irrevocable. See Point #7 of Sabah 20-point agreement prior to formation of Malaysia.
Former Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Supreme Council member, Dr Chong Eng Leong stressed that Sabah and Sarawak are supposed to be equal partners in the Federation when the two states agreed to FORM Malaysia. To correct the fact, Sabah and Sarawak NEVER JOINED Malaya. Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak consented to form a new Federation called Malaysia in September 16, 1963.
Prof. Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi did suggest that the only way for Sabah and Sarawak to drop out of Malaysia is to be expelled, just like what happen to Singapore.
However, I do agreed with Prof. Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi who is from the Faculty of Law, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) when he stated that Sabah Immigration Law was undermined by the influx of illegal immigrants to Sabah. "It has been undermined by closing one eye, two eyes, three eyes, all three eyes. It is clear for everyone to see like an elephant in the sitting-room." He indirectly said that Sabahan are too generous to the illegal immigrants while the federal government have couldn't-care-less attitude to enforce the immigration law in Sabah.
Sources
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/sabah-and-sarawak/4128-push-for-sabah-swak-independence-next-stop-un
http://www.catscity.com.my/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?start=50&topic_id=4421&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0
http://www.sabahforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4401&start=210
