Thursday, May 30, 2013
Sarawak Sovereignty Movement demands full
autonomy
A movement, rumoured to be backed by the powerful in Sarawak, is
demanding for full autonomy in the state based on the 18-point Malaysia
Agreement.
KOTA KINABALU: A new civil movement from Sarawak, calling
themselves Sarawak Sovereignty Movement (SSM), is demanding full autonomy for
the state.
The movement which was launched in April 2013, posted its
schedule of demands for autonomy on its website and Facebook account, backing
its claims with details of Sarawak’s history.
According to SSM secretary,
Lina Soo, full autonomy sums up all the terms and conditions for Sarawak (and
for Sabah too) agreeing to form Malaysia with three other independent countries
as equal partners being Malaya, Singapore and North Borneo (Sabah) in
1963.
“Brunei in its wisdom decided not to follow the crowd because
Malaya did not agree to accord it ‘equal partnership’ status,” said
Soo.
Singapore, she said pulled out in 1965 also after failed to to get
federal to accept it as an equal partner.
“The original Malaysia concept
of five countries (including Brunei) had dwindled into three countries in
Malaysia.
“The concept was dead. The legitimacy of Malaysia is therefore
in doubt,” she said in a statement to FMT here.
According to Soo,
Sarawak’s autonomous status was spelt out clearly in the 18 Points Agreement
with Malaya.
“These were safeguards for Sarawak having given up its
independence and agreeing to form Malaysia.
“Sarawak reserved its
sovereign right to control its own immigration, finance and resources and
requirement for ‘Borneonisation’ among other important conditions Sarawak’s
sovereignty was recognized- at least on paper,” she reminded.
However,
the Malaysian federal government’s failure to honour the terms of the Malaysia
Agreement for the past 50 years is evidenced by the pillage of their resources
and centralisation of control over the two states/countries.
“The Kuala
Lumpur control and exploitation of Sarawak oil has seen very little oil money
flowing back to Sarawak but seen as being siphoned to develop
Malaya.
“With the growing awareness of Sarawak’s diminished and
disadvantaged position after giving up its independence to form Malaysia, a new
generation of Sarawakians have begun agitating for Sarawak independence rights,”
she said.
‘Deviations invite trouble’
SSM, she said, is of the
opinion that the Malayan government is contented that Sarawak and Sabah freely
agreed to form Malaysia and they are forever a part of Malaysia.
“(But)
many in the two countries now are asking if Sarawak and Sabah freely made such a
decision, then they are free to leave Malaysia like Singapore,” she
claimed.
SSM which is helmed by Morshidi Abdul Rahman, was first given
publicity in Sarawak newspapers last month but hardly mentioned in other
media.
He reportedly asserted that Sarawak is a sovereign nation – a
territorial and constitutional entity – that has power to vote on its own laws,
collect taxes and the right to own its natural resources.
Meanwhile, a
leader from ruling Sarawak Barisan Nasional has warned Sarawakians not to
deviate from the original concept of Malaysia.
Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku
Jaafar, who was also a former parliament deputy speaker, when asked for his
opinion on SSM, said Sarawakians must refrain from divisive politics.
“We
have our constitution – the supreme law of the nation, with which act and work.
Do not stray from original concept of the Federation…,” Wan Junaidi said, adding
that “deviations invite troubles”.
His double-edged statement has lent
credence to certain local speculations that SSM is backed by “the powerful” in
Sarawak who also seek to strengthen its autonomy, not to fall prey to a scheming
central power that seeks to weaken Malaysia’s largest state, like it did to
Sabah.
Sabah and Sarawak are regarded to be nations-within-a nation as
both have autonomous rights granted to them in laws, written in pre-Malaysia
conditions and also in other treaties and documents including in the Federal and
State constitutions.
The clamour for full autonomy in both Borneon states
had recently increased due to the high awareness of disparity in income and
development between them and the 11 Peninsular states which they accused of
“stealing” the states’ rich for Malaya’s own exploitation.
Ironically,
both Sabah and Sarawak, while endowed naturally to be Malaysia’s richest, have
ended at the bottom-end of Malaysia’s poorest states, 50 years after agreeing to
form a Federation with Malaya.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
5 May 2013 - Who Are The Real Losers?
By voting for half past six candidates from Pakatan Rakyat and also for the
existing Barisan Nasional, the people of Sabah have lost the opportunity to
change the State Government.
Figuratively speaking, the people of Sabah have crashed into a ravine to avoid hitting a cat!
Figuratively speaking, the people of Sabah have crashed into a ravine to avoid hitting a cat!
The people of Sabah were vanquished in the fight for
political autonomy when they themselves rejected the one and only Sabah-based
opposition party that is SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party).
Pakatan Rakyat has successfully split the opposition votes and now they can be the undisputed opposition with Barisan Nasional continuing to be the Sabah State Government exactly like what is happening in Sarawak presently.
Why did they still came and contested in Sabah despite knowing that they cannot win here and form the State Government?
SAPP was completely incinerated and more than 90% of their candidates lost their deposits; of what use now is the 12 opposition state seats when Barisan Nasional is still in firm control of the State Government?
The painful truth in this election is that the voters of Sabah by not voting for SAPP as the next Sabah State Government, have effectively widened and seemingly deepened their own marginalization as the poorest of the poor in Malaysia while grasping on a thin tube of miserable benefits amidst racial discrimination, corruption and immigrants reverse taking over Sabah!
If future history were to ever epitomize Yong Teck Lee as the man who never got the chance to change the fortunes of Sabah, it is definitely some sort of a Déjà Vu now when it was written in Luke 4:24 of the Christian Bible that “No prophet is accepted in his own country”.
The voters of Sabah have allowed themselves to be cheated when Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat did not save the people of Sabah but actually destroyed us in the end and eventually sent all of us to the dungeons of slavery!
Pakatan Rakyat took the people of Sabah for a ride by swindling and manipulating our gullible voters into believing a blatant lie that they could change the government!
However, if SAPP were to be voted in as the State Government, it would definitely resist by all legal and legitimate means the Barisan Nasional Federal Government; but now, the BN State Government will work hand in hand with the BN Federal Government to further fleece and push us over the edge!
From now onwards, the people of Sabah can take their grouses and grievances against the two Barisan Nasional Governments to their newly-elected half-past-six assembly representatives from Pakatan Rakyat particularly the DAP and see for themselves what they are really capable of doing!
The next five years will be the toughest for each and every Sabahan because of living costs going up, swelling prices of essentials, all sorts of taxes and levies including GST (Government Sales Tax) will be slapped onto us to recover all the monies spent by the Barisan Nasional before and in the just concluded election – Good Luck to the people of Sabah!
It is now imperative that a dignified SAPP should leave the people of Sabah alone to enjoy what they have deservedly voted for; to quote from Matthew 10:14, Jesus Christ once said this to his disciples: If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.
For those who are familiar with the intricate history and politics of Israel, Sabah is becoming exactly like Jerusalem!
To the people of Sabah who will suffer in the coming five years, SAPP is now fully qualified to use the same words of a famous Field Marshal who was deserted by his own people in a war against a tyrannical King: “We will not kill you ourselves, we just don’t have to save you anymore”…!
SAPP should respect the rights and wishes of the voters of Sabah who have put themselves into this unfortunate predicament; likewise, the people of Sabah should also respect that of every politician inside SAPP to forsake and not to remember them!
Pakatan Rakyat has successfully split the opposition votes and now they can be the undisputed opposition with Barisan Nasional continuing to be the Sabah State Government exactly like what is happening in Sarawak presently.
Why did they still came and contested in Sabah despite knowing that they cannot win here and form the State Government?
SAPP was completely incinerated and more than 90% of their candidates lost their deposits; of what use now is the 12 opposition state seats when Barisan Nasional is still in firm control of the State Government?
The painful truth in this election is that the voters of Sabah by not voting for SAPP as the next Sabah State Government, have effectively widened and seemingly deepened their own marginalization as the poorest of the poor in Malaysia while grasping on a thin tube of miserable benefits amidst racial discrimination, corruption and immigrants reverse taking over Sabah!
If future history were to ever epitomize Yong Teck Lee as the man who never got the chance to change the fortunes of Sabah, it is definitely some sort of a Déjà Vu now when it was written in Luke 4:24 of the Christian Bible that “No prophet is accepted in his own country”.
The voters of Sabah have allowed themselves to be cheated when Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Rakyat did not save the people of Sabah but actually destroyed us in the end and eventually sent all of us to the dungeons of slavery!
Pakatan Rakyat took the people of Sabah for a ride by swindling and manipulating our gullible voters into believing a blatant lie that they could change the government!
However, if SAPP were to be voted in as the State Government, it would definitely resist by all legal and legitimate means the Barisan Nasional Federal Government; but now, the BN State Government will work hand in hand with the BN Federal Government to further fleece and push us over the edge!
From now onwards, the people of Sabah can take their grouses and grievances against the two Barisan Nasional Governments to their newly-elected half-past-six assembly representatives from Pakatan Rakyat particularly the DAP and see for themselves what they are really capable of doing!
The next five years will be the toughest for each and every Sabahan because of living costs going up, swelling prices of essentials, all sorts of taxes and levies including GST (Government Sales Tax) will be slapped onto us to recover all the monies spent by the Barisan Nasional before and in the just concluded election – Good Luck to the people of Sabah!
It is now imperative that a dignified SAPP should leave the people of Sabah alone to enjoy what they have deservedly voted for; to quote from Matthew 10:14, Jesus Christ once said this to his disciples: If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.
For those who are familiar with the intricate history and politics of Israel, Sabah is becoming exactly like Jerusalem!
To the people of Sabah who will suffer in the coming five years, SAPP is now fully qualified to use the same words of a famous Field Marshal who was deserted by his own people in a war against a tyrannical King: “We will not kill you ourselves, we just don’t have to save you anymore”…!
SAPP should respect the rights and wishes of the voters of Sabah who have put themselves into this unfortunate predicament; likewise, the people of Sabah should also respect that of every politician inside SAPP to forsake and not to remember them!
By Vidal Yudin Weil
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