ON Aug 10, 1965, one day after Singapore separated from Malaysia, Sabah's first chief minister Tun Fuad Stephens wrote to its prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, whose English name was Harry. Here’s an excerpt from that very personal missive.
“My dear Harry,
“Why? I have kept asking myself this since Sunday morning when I was told of the decision to carve up Malaysia. I think I can claim to have worked for Malaysia as hard as anyone else and I was not even consulted about its break, merely presented with a fait accompli.
“I feel like Death. Tears, heartbreak, and completely lost and betrayed. Never in my wildest dreams did I see this happening. Quarrels yes, even riots, but a complete break, never. Years of hard work, up hill and down dale selling the idea of Malaysia to my people. Blood sweat and tears and success. Now this.”
In his memoirs, Lee wrote:
“I had let down many people in Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak. They had responded to our call of a Malaysian Malaysia.
“By accepting separation, I had failed them. That sense of guilt made me break down. It was my moment of anguish. The deed was done, but I was overwrought at the thought of all the shattered hopes of the millions we had aroused.”
For Sabahans today, even though this happened 60 years ago, many of us even now share Stephens’ feelings.
There’s a sense of betrayal. Because the new Malaysia, which consisted of North Borneo (as Sabah was then known), Sarawak, Singapore, and Malaya, would have been different if the federation had remained intact.
There’s also a sense held by some Sabahans and Sarawakians that Singapore had betrayed them. The Borneo territories – Sabah and Sarawak – agreed to form Malaysia because Singapore was a part of it. The ethnicities of the three “Ss” – Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore – would balance Malaya’s dominant demographic.
Singapore’s departure also changed the political landscape. Malaya (ie, the peninsula) became a more dominant force in the federation, and the political bargaining power of the Borneo territories was weakened.
Sabah and Sarawak also lost the critical one-third collective representation in Parliament with Singapore’s exit.
When Malaysia was formed, there were 159 parliamentary seats. Malaya held 104, Sarawak had 24, Sabah 16, and Singapore 15. The one-third allocation – in total, 55 seats – for Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak was a safeguard to ensure that Malaya could not amend the Constitution on its own, as it would require a two-thirds majority to do so.
When Singapore left, though, its 15 parliamentary seats were not reallocated to Sabah and Sara-wak. The number of seats in Parliament was adjusted, and the proportion held by the two states dropped. They were left with 40 seats – Sarawak 24 and Sabah 16 – which amounted to 25% of the seats.
Currently, there are 222 seats, with Peninsular Malaysia holding 165, Sarawak 31, Sabah 25, and Labuan one. Sabah and Sarawak are demanding that their seats be increased to 35% of the total, which would result in an additional 25 seats.
The Borneo states feel the 35% demand is warranted as it is fair representation given their vast landmass – Sabah and Sarawak make up nearly 60% of the total land area of Malaysia – and significant contribution to the national economy through the oil and gas sector.
“With one-third, we can make sure that MA63 remains intact,” said Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg in a speech in September 2024.
“In the Cobbold Commission Report, the word mentioned was ‘safeguard’.”
The Malaysia Agreement 1963, or MA63, recognises Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners with Malaya in forming Malaysia, outlining certain conditions about autonomy and revenue that, over the years, have not been met. The Cobbold Commission was established to determine whether the people of Sarawak and North Borneo supported the proposal to create the Federation of Malaysia, consisting of Malaya, Brunei, Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak.
Current Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor supported the Sarawak Premier’s proposal, stating that the territory would pursue a 35% quota of the total parliamentary seats, in line with MA63.
On Singapore’s exit, then Sarawak chief minister, Tan Sri Stephen Kalong Ningkan, expressed deep disappointment. Ningkan, as reported, stated that the fundamental nature of the Malaysian Federation, as agreed upon in MA63, had been altered and undermined by the Federal Government without the consent of the two territories.
Back to what Stephens wrote to Lee.
“What is the purpose of this letter? I don’t know myself; maybe it is just to give my boxed up feelings of misery some relief – Harry, throughout all the shouting and mudslinging, you have remained a friend and I have calculatedly refrained from throwing any mud at you privately or in public: now I find that the friend, the idol is made of cheap clay after all.
“I hope all will go well with you yet,” he added.
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