‘Give us equality; give us freedom’

I saw this ‘Sabah and Sarawak
should get out of Malaysia’
caption on social network
Facebook and was drawn to its
prominence.

It is, I believe, an indication that
the sentiment is gathering
steam and I wondered how this
could happen to the younger
generation of Sabah and
Sarawak.

What did the Sabah and
Sarawak youths see and
experience in Malaysia today
that have made them so angry.
Isn’t the Barisan Nasional (BN)
government trying to make
them happy?

I can only conclude that many of
these young educated minds are
able to collect information from
all sources, analyze it and make
their own conclusions.

They have concluded that Sabah
and Sarawak have lost their
inalienable right to be free. They
are now nothing but a colony of
Malaya.

The postings seem to sum up
the pent up frustrations and
anger of the youths.
To give you an insight into their
thoughts, I’ve posted some of
their views below:

Colonised states

“Sabah and Sarawak joined
Malaya and Singapore to form
Malaysia in the hope of a better
future.

“In the end all they see are
land grabs and powerful illegal
immigrants who can vote the
government they want.

“They see job opportunities
lost to Malayan people and their
natural resources raped and
channelled to Malaya.

“They see themselves bullied
by officials who run the
religious department and
interfere in their faith.

“They see themselves deprived
of premier education
opportunity and made poor by a
government that could not care
less.

“They see quite simply that all
in all the future of Sabah and
Sarawak is not going to be
better under the colonial
policies (ketuanan melayu) of
Malaya.”

‘We are building a nation, not
a race’

Another posting reads:

“Unfortunately the current
state leaders are corrupt to the
bone.

“The whole BN component
parties members are longing for
fast short term financial gains.

“They have left the poor
people with little or nothing to
enjoy. The “racialist” policy
of BN Umno are bringing
disunity instead of a strong a
united country.

“But the leaders of BN refused
to acknowledge their folly. BN
think that they are all powerful
and whatever they say goes.

“Educated young people do
not agree to such approach. We
are building a nation – not a
race, or making a religion
supreme.

“Our history and identity are
different; how are you going to
make that homogeneous. As
citizen of Malaysia we should
have equal rights.

“It seems Malaysia is practicing
‘Animal Farm’ politics as
written by George Owell.

“In Animal Farm, Orwell wrote
that “all animals are equal but
some animals are more equal
then others”.

“That statement seemed to
describe what is Malaysia today
very well”.

Take us out of Malaysia

Yet another posting further
affirms that youths of Sabah
and Sarawak are resisting this
colonization policy of the
federal government.

Says this posting: “Many
people have been put under the
Internal Security Act (ISA)
detention because they
advocate the idea that Sabah
and Sarawak should get out of
Malaysia if they want to
progress.

“Sabah and Sarawak are
prohibited to get out of Malaysia
by law.

“If you want Sabah and
Sarawak to get out of Malaysia,
you have to hold a referendum
or get ready to fight a civil war
with Malaya as the “colonial
master”.

“But we do not need to resort
to fight. The 18 and 20 points
agreement posses all the
element to make Sabah and
Sarawak autonomous.

“Some of the points have been
incorporated in the Federal
Constitution but (past and
present) BN leaders either out of
greed or simple ignorance if not
plain stupidity did not take
these historical circumstances
seriously.

“The “National Integration”
policy pushed for Ketuanan
Melayu ideas and by doing so
marginalized the people of
Sabah and Sarawak.

“It has deprived us of equal
rights and opportunities”.

Ruling governments forewarned
Succint views. It seems the
youths of Sabah and Sarawak
have decided to change
themselves and defend the
autonomy principle as
embedded in the 18 and 20
point agreements inked with
the Federation of Malaya in
1963.

It is BN federal government’s
choice whether to turn a blind
eye and put cotton wool in their
ears so that the voices of the
Sabah and Sarawak Youth would
not be heard.

This is an excerpt from the
writer’s Dayakbaru.com blog

www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/09/01/give-us-equality-give-us-freedom/