Sabah, Sarawak: ‘Unequal partners’?

RECENTLY, my good friend Datuk Dr Johan Arriffin Samad published Unequal Partners (SIRD) under the name he’s better known as, Joe Samad.

I was asked to comment on the book and the issue of how Sabah, Sarawak and the MA63 issues are treated. Joe asked for my frank opinion, and I am going to oblige him, one way or another.

Firstly, thanks to our wonderful school education system, I know very little about Sabah and Sarawak. Very early on, I remember being taught that the red and white stripes as well as the spikes on the star on our national flag represented all the “states” in the new country called Malaysia that emerged in 1963.

Now, after a decades-long career in art and architecture that involves design communication, I have to ask why the flag is like that when Sabah and Sarawak are “partner nations”, not states? Why were we not taught that these two nations are supposed to be on equal terms with Semenanjung (Peninsular Malaysia)? I do not remember any exam questions referring to this point, or else I would know it.

Secondly, I remember hearing of two prominent names from Sabah and Sarawak: Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud (who passed away in February) and Tan Sri Musa Aman, both former chief ministers of their nations. I know these names mainly because they were dogged by controversy, which I am not going to comment on as I did not and do not know either man.

What I do know is that as far as I have come to learn, Sabah and Sarawak have been mostly ruled by their own people. Yet, many point to how much of the two nations’ oil and timber money was siphoned off to develop Peninsular Malaysia – why did the people of Sabah and Sarawak trust the peninsula gang? What were their representatives doing at the time?

Would it be fair then to say that the disadvantageous situation the two nations find themselves in now is partially because of their own doing?

Thirdly, there’s MA63, the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that brought together the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak. If a contract was made and an agreement was sealed, then by all rights the agreement must be answered accordingly.

If not, the agreement must be amended with the consent of the two nations’ peoples themselves and not necessarily by their politicians because we all know how much a politician is worth. So if an amendment is to be made, then it must only be done truly through the people, and since we live in an Internet age, this is now possible.

But if no amendment is deemed necessary, then the old “horse trading” of “interpreting” the MA63 to benefit one party and some politicians must be done away with and the agreement ratified post-haste. No two ways about it.

Fourthly, with regard to education, I believe what Abang Jo – Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg – is doing in introducing an international curriculum as well as having English as half of the learning language is excellent. However, Abang Jo needs to also ensure that the children learn enough Bahasa Malaysia, Malay history and adab (etiquette) as well as the social, spiritual and political constructs of Islam. I am not being a chauvinist when I write those words. I am being practical. If you live in a sea of Islam and know very little about it, it spells disaster in any future.

Fifth, if Sabah and Sarawak demand their 40% income back as per MA63, then I propose that the nations finance their own education programmes with teachers’ salaries being paid by them instead of federally. After all, these nations can come up with a different curriculum from the peninsula’s that is not too Melayu-Islamic centric like the current one. It would be fantastic if this was to occur because then the nations can charge extra for any Semenanjung children wanting to enrol with the alternative school and university systems. Beautiful.

Sixth, a particular point of pride in Sabah and Sarawak is that they are diverse nations with a variety of cultures and faiths. But here’s a reality check: Which community is currently growing the fastest, which has consistently larger families? Would that be Muslims, by any chance? If so, both nations will eventually be dominated by that community, demographically as well as politically. And along with that comes the problems Semananjung is now having with divisive politics and race and religion being used to incite fear and hatred.

Malaysia is at an important crossroads now. I think that our national flag should be redesigned and that Sept 16, 1963, be celebrated more than Aug 31, 1957. I believe that MA63 should be ratified properly and that 40% in revenue being demanded should indeed be handed over – albeit with certain ramifications of self-support, especially in education.

I believe that Sabah and Sarawak’s wonderful diversity that began organically is in danger of becoming troubled in the near future unless certain mitigating things are done. I believe that the politicians of both nations are not that much different from the ones in Semenanjung in terms of how they serve (or don’t serve) the people.

After all is said and done, I believe redressing the Unequal Partners status Joe writes about might become “business as usual” because the focus is too heavily laid on economics and there is not enough weight – or any weight at all, really – given to asking the right questions about values and building a nation.

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies at UCSI University.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.