A few weeks ago I was
having dinner with a group
of professionals, including a
Malay lawyer in Bangsar and
I asked them if they knew of
the various political
developments in Sabah.
They knew almost nothing.
The lawyer said he had
never heard about
opposition STAR (State
Reform Party) or its clarion
call ‘Ini Kali lah’, which
incidentally is now rolling
off every child and adult
tongue in Sabah.
Obviously, their knowledge
about political
developments is limited to
just West Malaysia. I can’t
really blame them.
Here, I was only two and a
half hours away from my
home but I was completely
cut off from any news or
developments in Sabah.
This got me asking many
questions about my
country.
Take for instance TV3′s
Malaysia Hari’s
programme aired every
working day. It rarely, if
ever, refers to any Sabah or
Sarawak paper.
Going to the newspapers
sold in the streets of Kuala
Lumpur wouldn’t do any
good either, as all the
newspapers cover only
peninsular news – even the
pro-opposition ones!
Why are national news so
peninsula Malaysia-centric?
Why are Sabah and Sarawak
still considered the
nation’s backwaters half a
century after the formation
of the federation?
It can’t be that our
national leaders, including
those from Sabah and
Sarawak, think that the two
states are not important.
No excuse for exclusion
I believe it is just a case of
old habits being
perpetuated without the
leaders and establishment
being fully aware of it.
Which means even if
Pakatan Rakyat wins the
next elections, the situation
in in media news coverage
in Malaysia won’t change.
It will still be done the same
way – national news is only
what comes out of
Peninsula Malaysia!
News from Sabah and
Sarawak – well, it will just
be an appendage.
The powers-that-be in
Peninsula Malaysia seem to
believe this ‘system’ to
be a natural order of
things.So they continue to
treat the peninsula as the
‘real’ Malaysia and Sabah
and Sarawak as appendages
of the nation.
They believe that news from
these two states are not
really important enough for
the people of West Malaysia
– unless it is news about a
shocking development.
In this age of instantaneous
electronic transfers, the
distance of Sabah and
Sarawak from KL is no
longer an excuse for the
exclusion of news from
these states.
But the imbalance continue
to persist.
At times when our
newspapers are quoted, the
news selected are social
news and not political news,
as if even pro-Barisan
Nasional political reports
from Sabah are taboo, or
too sensitive, for general
family viewing.
Is it because the news from
Sabah and Sarawak is too
sensitive and damaging to
politicos here?
Ignorance plaguing West
Malaysia
This malaise has been one of
the causes of the severe
limitations in social
interactions between
Malaysians in the Peninsula
and Malaysians in Borneo.
It makes us wonder why
this problem hasn’t been
addressed under the
National Integration and
National Unity programs.
The federal government
should realize that this
arrangement, this disparity
or imbalance of news is to
the serious disadvantages of
the people in West Malaysia.
Sabahans know a lot about
West Malaysia, while the
people of the peninsula
know very little about Sabah
and Sarawak!
So how is this imbalance,
this discrimination against
Borneo news, beneficial to
the West Malaysians?
If it’s true that knowledge
is power, then the West
Malaysians are the weaker
partner in the whole
arrangement while we are
the superior ones!
To prove this, just go to KL
and engage some
‘educated’ people in a
discussion on the matter
and you will realize how
ignorant they are about the
real Malaysia.
Many West Malaysians say
quite proudly that they have
never visited Sabah as if it is
an achievement to be
arrogant about!
I normally take such an
opportunity to educate
them on a thing or two
about Sabah.
Because of the gap in news
coverage in the country,
Malaysia is skewed
information-wise.
Something must be done
about this disparity or
discrepancy, especially
under the National
Transformation Program.
For the sake of 1Malaysia,
Sabah and Sarawak should
be given the same national
news stature and on a daily
basis.
www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/06/17/its-malaysia-only-in-name/
COMMENTS REFLECTS COLONIAL RELATIONSHIP SABAH & SARAWAK HAVE WITH MALAYA
ReplyDeleteThe above comments underline the great East- West divide as seen in the classic East West Pakistan situation- an "internal" colonialism where the "west" domination and plundered the "east". This eventually led to the separation of the physically east and west.
When we were ruled by the British we learned a lot about British history geography literature etc. This was our pre-1963 colonial experience.
When we came under Malayan rule in 1963 we learned about all Malayan history,Malayan geography and literature- of course we were "Malayanized". This is our post 1963 colonial experience of Malaya.
The comments therefore accurately reflects the one way relationship.
Malaya takes all it can of our rich resources to develop Malaya and much wealth finds it way into the pockets of the UMNO ruling elites as in the Petronas scam or PONZI scheme whereby it is taking100% of our oil wealth and sparing us 5% "ROYALTY". ALL that belonged to us in Sabah and Sarawak in the first place!
What we get in return is arrogant insults and treated as colonial subjects.
We need "1Malaysia".... like we need a dose of cyanide.
Malaya needs us for our resources & votes more than we need Malaya for the illusory "independence"- to be ruled by Malaya.
Thus the slogan on this web site is correct "Sabah & Sarawak need to be independent from Malayan colonialism"