THE SIX MISTAKES OF SABAHANS

By Peter Marajin

 

KOTA KINABALU: The First Biggest Mistake made by the Sabahan leaders, I think, was that they concurred with the crafty Malayan Tunku Abdul Rahman to form a nation called 'MALAYSIA' not knowing that the Malayan leader(s) under UMNO might have a hidden agenda of "colonising" Sabah and Sarawak in a true sense of the word. 

We could have been happy in the safe hands of Great Britain until such a time when the Sabahans could take over the administration and rule on their own.

Look at Brunei as a case in point. Like the ‘fairy tale’ the Bruneians could only whisper to your ears and say “we live happily ever after”.

The Second Biggest Mistake was the Sabah and Sarawak leaders’ inability to read between the lines when Singapore was ejected from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965.

The ejection from the Federation means that the MALAYSIAN AGREEMENT signed by the four countries which formed the Federation namely, Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak is NO longer valid.

Therefore when Singapore left, a fresh Federation should have been worked out among the remaining equal partners - Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. Sabah and Sarawak could have just been independent countries like Singapore today.

The Third Biggest Mistake was when our state leadership agreed to sign an agreement to give away 95% of one of our most valued natural resources - OIL - without any sense of personal reservation and pride.

It is like giving away your only begotten son to a monster looming at your backyard to be sacrificed for nothing without even attempting to fight it off. This bad decision had caused Sabahans to be the poorest in a land of the most bountiful.

This situation will go on in perpetuity without us seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, unless we put up a fight.

The Fourth Biggest Mistake was when the Sabah leaders allowed the then dominant and condescending UMNO came and spread its wings to Sabah.

Now Sabahans are at the receiving end or merely taking orders from UMNO, again and again and again 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year without any sign of stopping. That explained the perennial problem of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS in Sabah!

UMNO has no intention, whatsoever, to solve this problem because they see them as the only way to help them to perpetuate the Ketuanan Melayu by turning these illegal people into their permanent voters in every subsequent General Election.

For they (PTI) are now might be the majority in Sabah. That explained the decision to go at length to distribute the Green Cards to them a few of days ago at the expense of the genuine Sabahans in the interior, many of whom still do not possess the Malaysian ICs.

The Fifth Biggest Mistake was when Sabah leaders and the Sabahans still clung to UMNO’s Barisan Nasional in every General Election despite the non-stop ”raping” taking place at every turn.

Even in a situation where the Sabah and Sarawak have now become the LIFE GIVER of UMNO at the Federal level, UMNO are so blinded with ‘lust’ that Sabah and Sarawak are still treated as Illegitimate Children in favour of the severely election-battered MCA and MIC.

With this very obvious lopsided policies of UMNO and rampant discrimination of KL towards Sabah one may be prompted to ask this question, “What came into the heads of PBS, UPKO, PBRS, LDP leaders?” Only SAPP had come to their senses and turned their back on UMNO’s BN. Bravo to you SAPP leaders!!

The Sixth Biggest Mistake will be for Sabah leaders and Sabahans to allow once again our very own natural resources - GAS - to be channelled to Bintulu and once again start believing the sweet talk of “Romeo UMNO” that a Petro-Chemical will be set up in Sabah and only excess gas is channelled to Sarawak.

Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan is right that no one knows for sure of any of such “excess gas” at all given the fact that Petronas had never been transparent to the rakyat of Sabah in the more than 30 years of operation.

So, Juliet, be wised up, Romeo’s promises are only meant to be broken!!

Whether the above Mistakes are in fact mistakes or just mere Stupidity on our part I will leave it to my fellow Sabahans to make the judgement. And it is up to us whether we want a change or remain in the status quo.

The American people, especially the white people, had recently made a decisive move for a CHANGE propagated by a minority black leader, Barack Obama. Could not we Malaysians in Sabah take a que from them?

May God open our eyes wide!