The two Borneo nations need to wake up from their trance-like state induced by Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN).
KOTA KINABALU: Bingkor assemblyman and longtime rights activist Jeffrey Kitingan has mixed feelings on the 50th Anniversary of Singapore ending its merger with Malaya and exiting the Federation with the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak. “When I asked the late Lee Kuan Yew once what his greatest regret was in relation to Sabah and Sarawak, he hung his head, and tears rolled down his face. He was so choked with emotion and regret that he could not speak.”
“Sabahans and Sarawakians need to wake up from their trance-like state induced by Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) and their links with the peninsula where the Federal Government has refused to comply with the Malaysia Agreement 1963.”
While extending greetings on the Golden Anniversary joy for Singapore, he can’t at the same time resist pointing out that the city state abandoned Sabah and Sarawak which facilitated its merger with Malaya through their Federation with the peninsula and the island. “Otherwise, multiracial Malaya refused to have Chinese-majority Singapore merge with it.”
“What might be the status of Sabah and Sarawak today had the two Borneo nations left the Federation in 1965 at the same time as Singapore?” asked Jeffrey on the road not taken. “Just as Lee Kuan Yew fought hard to persuade Sabah and Sarawak leaders to agree to Federation in 1963, Singapore should have fought equally hard for the two Borneo nations to leave the Federation at the same time as it left.”
Moving forward, said Jeffrey, it was clear that Sabah and Sarawak could no longer rely on Umno and Malaya and pointed out that Singapore’s success illustrated Malaysia’s failure. “If Singapore can do it, and Brunei can do well on its own by keeping out of the Federation at the 11th hour, Sabah and Sarawak can also do well if they stand on their own two feet.”
“The Singapore economy in GDP terms is larger than that of Malaysia, the currency almost RM3 to S$1, and it has the world’s third highest per capita income. All these were achieved in a tiny land area, without water or natural resources and without Umno and BN.”
The only thing going for Singapore was its strategic location, human resources, and its commitment to the brightest and best leading the way for all, added Jeffrey. “Sarawak today is better off than Sabah because it has no Umno.”
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