By FMT Staff and Luke Rintod
Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, the younger brother of Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, appears to be passively muddling through the crisis.
With parliament expected to be dissolved anytime now and the general election called, it’s become a hot-potato issue for any to handle.
But it also highlights an all-consuming governmental crisis which is pulling the country apart.
Those in power can no longer be trusted on national security because they are shallow, ignorant, arrogant and not serious about issues that matter most to Sabahans and Malaysians in general.
That our security forces were blind-sided, are fighting an enemy who have merged with the citizenry and thus are unable to locate their positions, has stunned defence analysts.
Politicians in the ruling Barisan Nasional, especially Umno, are scrambling to divert attention from their astounding lapse in judgement and the resulting fiasco which has so far left more than 70 dead, several more wounded and thousands of villagers displaced.
Suddenly, more cross-border trade restrictions are coming into force and police have stepped up border security surveillance in Sarawak to prevent and detect any of the intruders fleeing to the coastal districts of Sarawak.
The border areas closest to Sabah in Sarawak are Lawas and Limbang districts. Neighbouring Brunei is also probably on heightened alert as will be the Indonesians.
While all this is happening, the man most to blame for this fiasco and other scandals, is leading the charge to defend Umno as well as ensure it does not sully its legacy.
Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in Sabah shortly after the major part of “Ops Daulat” ended last weekend and quickly launched into an explanation of his administration’s willingness to grant citizenship to thousands of immigrants.
Dr M: Don’t blame me
He was quick to tell a political gathering in Papar, about an hour’s drive from the state capital, not to blame him for the massive influx of immigrants into the state while he was prime minister.
According to him, foreigners who were not eligible or had just entered the country were never eligible for citizenship and if they did obtain it, it was done by a few unscrupulous government officers for financial gain.
However, testimonies by senior government officers at an on-going inquiry state otherwise and allege a conspiracy reaching into the prime minister’s office or at least to those close to him.
His advice on improving security in Sabah was to call for the banning of water villagers, the ramshackled jumble of houses on stilts that dot the coast, because they are difficult to monitor.
It is not lost on many that the population of the state and import of poverty ballooned after Umno extended its wings to Sabah in the early 1990s in a bid to overthrow the duly elected state government which was at the time Christian-led and in the opposition.
The incursion also spotlighted rampant poverty there. It’s blemish on the resource rich state that the government has been feverishly trying to dismiss as exaggeration.
But while many in the state obviously remain poverty-stricken, it is not about to get an increased share of its own vast resources of oil and gas.
Mahathir told his audience in Papar that giving back more to Sabah would be unfair to other states in the country as the government practices wealth sharing irrespective of which state produces it and its benefits must be distributed fairly among all states.
“When Sabah was poor, the federal government helped the state, but don’t tell me that when Sabah has become rich, it does not want to help other people. That is not sharing because oil is created naturally and it is God’s gift.
“For example, when Terengganu was rich with oil, the state did not ask for more oil royalty more than 5%. In fact, the 5% oil royalty is given based on gross and not based on profit, which is higher,” he reportedly said.
If you had asked a Sabahan about five years ago what they thought about the all-powerful Umno-led coalition government, they would have said they don’t think about politics much anymore and they just want to get on with their lives.
The recent series of spectacular government foul-ups may have shocked voters out of their lethargy.
Mahathir has acknowledged that the government could lose some parliamentary seats in Sabah and Sarawak in the coming general election and many others in the BN coalition are no longer hiding from the truth that all signs point to this.
The latest indications are that Sabah leaders may be recalibrating their approach to governing the state.
Worried KDM leaders
On Friday, the senior Kadazandusun community leaders in Sabah are planning to hold an unprecedented emergency meeting in the state capital to discuss current issues affecting the state and the community.
FMT learned yesterday that invitations were being issued to various leaders of cultural groupings as well.
Invitation being sent via mobile texts informed recipients that the agenda was “to discuss current issues affecting the state and the community…”
It is not clear who would be chairing the meeting but rumours are that the organisers are infact Barisan Nasional leaders from PBS, Upko and PBRS.
They are hoping to attract at least 5,000 people for the emergency meeting.
Apparently all three parties’ presidents – PBS (Joseph Pairin Kitingan), UPKO (Bernard Dompok) and PBRS (Joseph Kurup) – are expected to address the meeting. The meeting was slotted for Friday because Dompok is currently in the Vatican City representing Malaysia at the installation of Pope Francis.
Also surfacing are speculations that the three KDM-based parties may leave BN and contest as a coalition with other opposition parties. Alongside these rumours are also talks that the possibility of this happening “is remote”.
Insider sources are however tight-lipped over whether the emergency meeting would spring any surprises or resolutions.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the state, more than a month after the foray by the ragtag group of some 200 or so armed Filipinos of the self-styled Royal Sulu Army, security forces continue their “mop up” operations in the east coast of the state with various shooting incidents and arrests reported each day.
AGENDA FOR KADAZANDUSUN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING
ReplyDeleteAN IMPORTANT QUESTION KADAZANDUSUN PEOPLE MUST NOW ASK:
“IS THERE ANY STRONG LOGICAL REASON TO REMAIN IN MALAYSIA”???
COMMENT: One positive aspect of the Sulu invasion is that it has revived the question of Malaysia's legitimacy on the 50th year of its formation.
If the reported KDM meeting is being organised by the BN or linked organisations then it means they desperately want to counter widespread (media) questioning on failure of the main reason for forming Malaysia which was to protect Sabah from foreign invasion. They also want to rally support for UMNO in the much overdue general elections. Their response to the challenging questions seems much faster than responding to the Sulu invasion.
This will be a farce and no more than an attempt to frighten the people with the same 50 year old bogeyman line that they will be invaded (a la Sulu) if they do not have big brother UMNO protection. So it is best to remain in Malaysia.
The fact remains that UMNO failed in its original Malaysia formation justification to defend Sabah Security.
The important question the Kadazandusun community must asked at this upcoming extraordinary meeting is that-
“SINCE MALAYSIA HAS FAILED TO LIVE UP TO THE FORMATION JUSTIFICATION THAT SABAH (AND SARAWAK) WILL BE PROTECTED FROM FOREIGN INVASION IS THERE ANY STRONG LOGICALLY REASON TO REMAIN UNDER MALAYAN RULE”?
The Sulu invasion and the invasion of foreign illegals have demolished this justification.
1. UMNO's to further its Melayu Raya apartheid agenda resorted to increasing their numerical power by smuggling in over 5 million foreign instant Malaysians into Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. It was no less an invasion which has been engineered by UMNO itself.
The invasion of millions of Indonesian and Filipino illegals, sponsoring and training foreign insurgents in Sabah and now the Sulu claim have put Kadazandusuns' claim as Sabah's premier people in great jeopardy. By being in Malaysia their destiny was placed in jeopardy.
The UMMO government's spectacular failure to "protect" Sabah but actually using foreign invasion of illegals to maintain its colonial rule is therefore a direct attack on the Kadazandusun's position as the majority group in Sabah. They are now a third class minority in their own land.
2. The other failed justification is that Malaya's arrogant racist reason that Sabah and Sarawak were essential components of Malaysia to provide the racial balance in the new Malaysia when Malaya “merged” with Singapore. (The questions never asked was and is "Why should Sabah and Sarawak be obliged to make up the balance"?)
We know that there was never any “balance” as Brunei wisely stayed out of the Federation and Singapore left in in 1965. This means that Malaysia became "racially" out of balance and UMNO's bumiputras came to dominate all other peoples in Malaysia from the very beginning. UMNO further resorted to population engineering as mentioned in Point 1 above.
Comments concluded next post
ReplyDelete“IS THERE ANY STRONG LOGICAL REASON TO REMAIN IN MALAYSIA”???
3. Nor has there been any of the much promised economic prosperity for Sabah but just the doubtful honour of being the poorest 12th Malayan state or colony. Kadazadusuns and Dayaks despite their claim to be owners and tillers of the land are now third class dispossessed citizens in their own land.
Many are not even recognised as citizens when illegals are!
This all means the justifications for formation Malaysia were just false reasons and promises used to con the people into agreeing with the Malaysia proposal.
UMNO BN never protected them from all these but had actually created the problems!
Since the justifications and promises never existed or were fulfilled why should Sabah and Sarawak remain in Malaysia?
The Sulu invasion has revived all the debates on the Malaysia's legitimacy. The UMNO government and supporters have come up some ingenuous reasons. On of them they say is that Sabah and Sarawak people chose to be part of Malaysia. This is an oft repeated and overstated lie.
The facts are:
(1) There was NO referendum in the Borneo colonies to determine whether or not the people supported the Malaysia proposal. The Cobbold Commission was only an “enquiry”. How is that a vote?
(2) Brunei chose not to become part of Malaysia and Singapore chose to leave it in 1965.
This in line with UMNO supporters' (including professors) argument of a free and voluntary union.
If this is true then Sabah and Sarawak should also have the right to leave Malaysia like Singapore.
The reality is that Malaysia exists only because Malaya needs keep Sabah and Sarawak colonised for their resources to develop Malaya! That is why Malaya is now frantically defending Sabah's sovereignty. It never did for 50 years because it was not seriously challenged until the Sulu Invasion.
Kadazandusun brothers and sisters put this discussion on the agenda as a relevant item to re-examine Sabah's position in Malaysia. GOOD LUCK!