Expelled Pas legislator Hassan
Ali’s theory that Dap will
eventually push for
Singapore’s return to Malaysia,
a scare-mongering tactic in
reverse, does not hold water.
This reminds us of Singapore
veteran Lee Kuan Yew warning
his people not so long ago that
the island may have to return to
Malaysia, literally on bended
knees, if it fails to make its way
in the world.
There are many reasons why
Singapore will not or cannot
return to Malaysia but a few
salient points will suffice for the
moment to put the point across.
By the end of 2010,
Singapore’s GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) overtook
Malaysia’s by US$ 5 billion to
reach US$ 210 billion. This is
despite the island state having
no natural resources, even
sufficient water, and very little
land and encircled by hostile,
fanatical populations.
The Singapore dollar, to which
the Brunei ringgit is linked and/
or pegged, is also going at RM
2.50 sen.
As one result, Malaysia had to
literally give away the Iskandar
Development Region in south-
east Johore to Singapore as an
extension of it to complement
and supplement continued
development, nay as a semi-
colony of sorts.
Still, Hassan’s hare-brained
theory is worth re-visiting but in
the reverse.
Sabah and Sarawak the time-
bombs
The more likely scenario is that
Sabah and Sarawak, on the other
side of the South China Sea, is
likely to exit the Malaysian
Federation within the next five
to 15 years.
The writing is on the wall
although Putrajaya has strived to
avert or at least delay this
inevitability, indefinitely, by not
allowing non-Muslims from the
Dusun – including Kadazan or
urban Dusun and Murut -- and
Dayak communities to be Chief
Minister of the respective states.
For added “security”,
Putrajaya has turned a blind eye
while hordes of impoverished
illegal immigrants continue to
flood into the two states and
enter the electoral rolls by the
backdoor.
Different from Penang
Some even postulate that the
Umno Government will kick out
Penang from Malaysia in the
same manner as it did in 1965
with Singapore. This is an
unlikely scenario since the
number of non-Chinese
residents in Penang, especially
Malay-speaking communities,
equal that of the Chinese.
In Singapore, in 1965, the
Chinese formed 75 per cent of
the island’s population and
this figure has relatively changed
little since then.
It’s a different scenario
altogether in Sabah and Sarawak
where the demographic make-
up doesn’t make a difference.
The increasing possibility that
Sabah and Sarawak will quit
Malaysia is in fact a continuation
of the story of Singapore’s
expulsion in 1965 from the
Federation and the refusal of
Brunei, at the 11th hour, to be a
member of the enlarged
Federation which emerged from
the Federation of Malaya.
Singapore’s exit saw the
definition of “Federation” in
the Federal Constitution changed
to reduce the status of Sabah
and Sarawak from being equal
partners of the States of Malaya
in the collective, as represented
by the old Federation of Malaya,
to being just one of the many
states in the “Federation”.
In short, the Federation of
Malaysia ceased to exist in 1965
following Singapore’s exit and
the defunct Federation of Malaya
re-emerged at the same time to
masquerade as the “new”
Federation of Malaysia.
The result of this dramatic shift
in fortunes has been that the
Federal Government refused
and/or saw no need to comply
with the terms of the 1963
Malaysia Agreement. It was
under this Agreement that Sabah
and Sarawak agreed, along with
Singapore, Brunei (opted out)
and Malaya, to form the
Federation of Malaysia.
Singapore's seats were grabbed,
so was oil
Singapore’s exit also saw
Malaya taking seven of the
island’s 15 seats in the
Malaysian Parliament instead of
all of them going to Sabah and
Sarawak.
The arrangement in 1963 was
that Malaya should have less
than two-thirds of the seats in
Parliament in order to ensure
that other territories in the
Federation – Sabah, Sarawak,
Brunei – would have veto power.
Today, Malaya has more than
two-thirds of the seats in
Parliament – 165 vs 57 including
Labuan – vis-à-vis Sabah and
Sarawak. Hence, the rationale for
Sabah and Sarawak to continue
to be in the so-called Federation
of Malaysia further falls apart.
When push comes to shove the
crunch will come when the
debate re-opens on the oil
royalty for Sabah and Sarawak.
A one-sided oil agreement of
1976 sees the Federal
Government and Petronas, the
national oil corporation, giving
only five per cent royalty for oil
and gas production from wells in
the inner waters – very few and
either dry or increasingly drying
– and none from the infinitely
vast number of wells in the outer
waters.
The result has been that Sabah
and Sarawak have been reduced
over the last nearly 50 years to
being the poorest and second
poorest states respectively in
Malaysia.
Now, even an upward review in
the presently measly five per
cent will be utterly meaningless
if the outer waters are excluded
in the calculation.
There also remains the fact that
any upward review of the oil
royalty would have to be, in all
fairness, backdated to 1976
when the virtual theft began,
and interest paid on the arrears
at the statutory 8 per cent per
annum, and compounded yearly.
For how long can they silence
Sabah and Sarawak
This is a situation which the
Umno-led Federal Government
will never accept in a million
years since the loot since 1976
has either disappeared into
private pockets in Peninsular
Malaysia or been squandered
away with no thought for
tomorrow and future
generations.
Malaysia will be bankrupt if
Sabah and Sarawak press their
legitimate claims on the oil
royalty issue. But that doesn’t
mean a stalemate on both sides.
The recent examples of Timor
Leste, Acheh, and South Sudan –
and the continuing issue of
Darfur and South Kordofan – all
on the oil issue, shows that
history and international law is
on the side of Sabah and
Sarawak. Timor Leste and South
Sudan both became independent
through the intervention of the
UN Security Council while Acheh
gained autonomy. Darfur and
South Kordofan are work in
progress.
It’s not true that only states
can bring applications to the UN
Security Council. Any party can
do so as illustrated by the
application from the Syrian
Opposition now under
discussion at the UN Security
Council. It’s only a matter of
time before Sabah and Sarawak
bring up their oil and gas
reserves at the UN Security
Council. Putrajaya cannot
continue to squat on Sabah and
Sarawak forever.
Now you know why Taib
Mahmud and Musa Aman are so
powerful
The inevitable result will be the
exit of Sabah and Sarawak, the
two poorest states, from the so-
called Federation of Malaysia.
Only independence from
Malaysia under UN supervision
will enable Sabah and Sarawak to
find their true destiny in the
international community of
nations.
Is it any wonder now, the likes of
Sarawk Chief Minister Taib
Mahmud and Sabah's Musa
Aman, have been given a free
hand in the running of the states,
despite a mountain of
complainst and blatant evidence
of corruption including land-
grabbing, timber abuse and rape
of indigenous women by
workers of crony firms.
Without them to suppress the
Sarawak and Sabah people, the
two states would have long fled
the Federation, unable to
withstand the bullying from
Umno.
Malaysia Chronicle
No comments:
Post a Comment