The Addiction To Pain Called Malaya
Abdul Rahman Jugah Barieng Alexander Nanta Linggi
“There is nothing wrong with working with Umno or other parties. Even DAP is harbouring the idea of working with other parties to replace Muhyiddin’s administration” ….quote Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi, Sec-Gen of GPS and of PBB.For want of a better word or term to give apt description to GPS’s (formerly BN Sarawak) fascination and addiction to UMNO and all things Malaya, the psycho - medical term ‘sadomasochism disorder’ seems to fit the bill. Before we continue with this let us first recall what the preeminent paramount chief of the ibans, Tun Jugah Barieng said about Sarawak joining the federated states of Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah) and Singapore to form Malaysia in early days of 1962. He was recorded to have said anang baka tebu, manis ba pun tang tabar ba ujung which in English literally means do not be like the sugar cane, sweet at the beginning but tasteless at the end. The late Tun Jugah by the way is the grandfather of Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi.
The vast majority of Sarawakians cannot quite understand why the leaders of the GPS government of Sarawak (formerly BN Sarawak) are so enamored with the leaders of Malaya, particularly Malaya’s leaders in UMNO, much to the detriment of Sarawak. The words from Alexander Nanta which echos that peculiar sentiment is even more puzzling as the words of his grandfather have proven to be prophetic.
The journey of pain has been long one, 57 long years to be exact. It started on the 16th Sept 1963. From that date until this very day, it has been one long litany of betrayal and discrimination against Sarawak.
Power Sharing In The Malaysian Parliament
Malaysia was formed on the understanding that it will be a partner of equal status to the federated Malay states (aka Malaya), North Borneo (now Sabah) and Singapore. In 1964, the parliament of Malaysia had 159 seats or constituencies. Sarawak ( allocated 24 seats), Sabah (allocated 16 seats) and Singapore (allocated 15 seats) had a combined total of 55 seats and federated Malaya allocated 104 seats. Based strictly on the principle of equal partnership, Sarawak should have been allocated at least 39 seats. The loss of sweetness from the sugar cane had started, barely 1 year after the formation of Malaysia. It became clear to most of the leaders of Sarawak then that Tunku Abdul Rahman, the 1st prime minister of Malaysia never intended to be fair and equitable to Sarawak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Malaysian_general_election
In August 1965, Singapore left the federation and became a independent sovereign state on its own. In the 1969 general elections (from the 10/05/1969 - 04/07/1970) there were 144 seats up for grabs. Sarawak’s allocation was 24 seats. In the 4th general elections in 1974, there were 154 seats up for contest. Sarawak allocation remained at 24 seats when it should have been at least 51 based on the principle of equal status. Reasons were assigned for the disparity, one of which was the scarce population of Sarawak relative to land mass. The end result of this disparity was not lost on Sarawakians. They were deprived of power in parliament and were not in full control over their own affairs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_Dewan_Rakyat,_4th_Malaysian_Parliament
Office of Sarawak’s Chief Minister and the constitutional crisis of 1966
The constitutional crisis of 1966 was among the darkest time if not the darkest in the annals of fairland Sarawak.
The Edge reported it in these words in Feb 2009 : Sarawak’s first Iban Chief Minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan was initiating land reform law to give the natives in the interior rights to acquire full title to Native Customary Land, which would enable them to sell their land rights to whomever they wished. The law, when passed, would also enable them to gain rights to large tracts of valuable forest land. This resulted in some assemblymen, with the alleged backing from the Federal Government, issuing a statement that expressed no confidence in Ningkan. This prompted Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman to demand his resignation. Ningkan refused, and was removed by the Governor. He took the case to the High Court of Borneo and was reinstated as the Chief Minister as the court decided that once appointed, a Chief minister may not be removed by the Governor unless the state assembly passes a motion of no confidence against him. Ningkan had planned to call for a snap election upon his reinstatement, but before he could do so, the Federal Government imposed a state of emergency in Sarawak citing chaos in the state.
Ningkan, the first Dayak Iban Chief Minister was unceremoniously sacked in a move orchestrated by Tunku Abdul Rahman. The pain of not having full control over our own affairs was now becoming more acute for Sarawakians.
Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74)
PDA74 is the bedrock of Malaysia’s oil and gas landscape and it created Malaysia’s only Fortune 500 company. For Sarawakians, 1st Oct 1974 however marked the 1st day Malaya-led and the UMNO driven federal government ‘legally stole’ Sarawak’s right over her own natural resources. Sarawak’s entire oil and gas resources was nationalised via PDA74 with the connivance of Sarawak’s 3rd Chief Minister Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’kub. Until today, the fight (if you can call it that) for the restoration of Sarawak’s right have not yielded anything substantial.
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-why-sarawak-questions-petroleum-development-act
Relative to the profits that Malaya had enjoyed over the last 46 years, the gains from the commercial settlement agreement between Sarawak and Petronas, involving sales tax on O&G products and mining rights, may be described as crumbs falling from the master’s table. While Malaya prospered, enjoying infrastructures that rivals the developed countries of the world, rural based Sarawakians continue to depend on riverine transportation modes and at best, the jiwa murni roads. A running joke today is that jiwa yang murni is not visible in the jiwa murni roads. Sarawakians are still waiting for the Pain Borneo highway, the hospitals in Sri Aman and Petra Jaya to be completed and for the dilapidated schools to be fully repaired and made safe for students and teachers.
The Territorial Sea Act of 2012, the downgrading of Sarawak’s status from territory to state in 1976, all these serves to strengthen Malaya’s grip on the resources of Sarawak. Malaya based plantation companies like Felda group. Felcra group, Sime Darby group, IOI group, Boustead group, Tabung Haji, Tradewind group and many others controlled hundreds of thousands hectares of Sarawak’s land with hundreds of cases of encroachment into dayaks’ native customary (NCR). The discriminatory quotas for intakes into public universities and teachers training institutes caused Sarawak to be left far behind in almost all spheres of Malaysian lives because of the cascading effects of these discriminatory practises.
Knowing all these pain inflicting actions by the Malaya driven federal government against Sarawak, what is it that motivate Sarawak leaders in GPS ( formerly BN Sarawak) to continue to give the opportunity to Malaya-based parties to inflict more pain on Sarawak.
Sarawakians, let us put a stop to this madness. Let us show the exit door to GPS in the coming PRN.
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