Three years since the watershed General Elections on Sat 8, Mar 2008, it’s clear that Sept 16 in a future year will be the pivotal date for Sabah and Sarawak to win back their rights and freedom enshrined, inter alia, in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
The first shots were fired in the weeks and months running up to Sept 16, 2008 when it appeared with increasing certainty that this would be the moment when Sabah and Sarawak would be the proverbial tail wagging the dog.
Alas, it was not to be.
BN-mole spoilt the Sept 16, 2008 crossover
The exact details on Sept 16, according to the movers and shakers behind the scenes, were betrayed to the BN some three months before the Federal Government was set to fall. There was a BN mole in the inner circles of de-facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader, Anwar Ibrahim.
The betrayal allowed BN to hastily arrange, through a noted moneybag, a so-called study tour of Taiwan by Sabah and Sarawak MPs.
Those who forked out the money for the Taiwan trip apparently decided that Sodomy II, with Anwar in the starring role once again, wasn’t enough to guard against the possibility of BN MPs defecting to the opposition.
Some 15 MPs in Sabah, according to sources, were set to flee the ruling coalition. In Sarawak, six MPs reportedly agreed to switch camps, most of them aligned to Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president James Masing. Then PKR vice-president Jeffrey Kitingan was credited with putting together the defectors but most of the shuttle diplomacy was undertaken by one of his key aides who credits his uncle for spawning the genesis of the Sept 16 Revolution.
The Mar 8 polls had opened up a historical window of opportunity for the Malaysian Borneo states when parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia was split down the middle with the opposition alliance, Pakatan Rakyat (PR), having the edge via-a-vis the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). It was Sabah and Sarawak which, in the end, saved the day for the BN. If the Borneo states could back BN and win nothing in return, it made sense for them to flog the Borneo Agenda to the opposition alliance. The rest is history.
Federation of M'sia treaty ended when S'pore withdrew?
Since 2008, Sept 16 in Sabah and Sarawak has focused more on the Borneo Agenda itself rather than debating the pros and cons of supporting the BN or PR in Parliament, and with good reasons too.
The widely prevailing view now in the Borneo states is that the Federation of Malaysia of 1963 ceased to exist in 1965 after the departure of Singapore.
However, this theory must be taken to court and tested. This must also be taken to the people, the UN Security Council, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and indeed the people of the world.
Patently, following Singapore's departure from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965, the definition of "Federation" in the Federal Constitution was changed to that in the Federation of Malaya Constitution.
What this effectively means is that Sabah and Sarawak were no longer equal partners with Malaya, as representing the States of Malaya, in the Federation of Malaysia. Hence, no need for compliance mechanisms for the Malaysia Agreement, 20 Points, IGC Report, and Cobbold Commission.
Instead, Sabah and Sarawak merely became two of the many states in a Federation where the old Federation of Malaya was resurrected to masquerade as the Federation of Malaysia while the Federation of Malaysia of 1963 consisting of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, on the same basis, ceased to exist.
This is not what Sabah and Sarawak bargained for in 1963.
95% of Sabah and S'wak's oil and gas revenue taken by KL
It’s noteworthy that until 2009, Kuala Lumpur initially and Putra Jaya subsequently were vehemently against any form of celebration of Malaysia Day Sept 16. The Police were ever vigilant against any “trouble-creators” who celebrated Malaysia Day and/or pointed out that the country’s national day should be calculated from 1963 and not 1957. This has not changed. Putrajaya, as in previous years, insists that Malaysia will be 54 years this year and not 48 years as many people from various walks of life are pointing out in the Borneo dailies.
Indeed, KL wants 31 Aug 1957 to be celebrated as Malaysia's National Day -- Sabah and Sarawak becoming independent on 31 Aug, 1963 -- and that makes us 54 years old this year. The 54 year old Malaysia that KL refers to is Malaya masquerading as Malaysia and not the Malaysia of 1963 which is history.
Hence, the lies about the formation of Malaysia are based on the definition of Federation in the Federal Constitution of Malaya, now masquerading as the Federation of Malaya.
To add insult to injury, KL takes 95 per cent of the oil and gas revenue from the inner waters of Sabah and Sarawak, 100 per cent of the oil and gas revenue from the outer waters, 100 per cent of almost all other revenue and gave away Oil Blocks L and M to Brunei to ensure that Petronas can steal the oil royalty that would have otherwise gone to the two Borneo states.
Doesn't the fact that Limbang fronts Oil Blocks L and M count for anything? And what about Sabah/Labuan’s close proximity to Oil Blocks L and M?
Writing on the wall for BN
Also, most of the oil and gas revenue in the Spratly Islands belongs to Sabah/Labuan and not any of the other claimants. Just look at the CIA map of the Spratly Islands. The Paracel islands near Vietnam, generally lumped with the Spratly islands, are separate collection of islets in the South China Sea.
If some public-spirited persons can go to court in Kota Kinabalu recently on the now irrelevant issue of Borneonisation -- considering that the Federation of Malaysia of 1963 has ceased to exist --, then perhaps others can be equally persuaded to go to court on the issue of whether the Federation as it exists now is what Sabah and Sarawak bargained for in 1963.
No matter how the debates shapes up, whether within the court or without, Sabah and Sarawak will sooner rather than later emerge as autonomous, if not independent, states.
The writing is on the wall for Putrajaya. If the opposition alliance were to promise a better deal for Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation, it’s likely to get all the votes at the next General Elections. Pakatan Rakyat must demonstrate to the people that they are not just another BN in the waiting.
