“IT IS NOT THAT I LOVE MALAYSIA LESS, IT IS JUST I LOVE SABAH MORE,”

What happened to the promises?

KOTA KINABALU: A veteran politician yesterday pointed out that Sabah, in Malaysia, is a failed promise.Former state Umno Information Chief Datuk Karim Ghani, who was among the five people responsible in translating the Cobbold Commission Report, said before Malaysia was formed, there were a lot of promises made to lure North Borneo (now Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore to form the nation.

“But today, after 47 years, we have yet to see these promises fulfilled. Among the promises were that Sabah would be as rich as Malaya, as developed as Malaya and will be free from colonisation.

“Today, Sabah is the poorest in Malaysia, under-developed and as far as colonisation is concerned, we still need to refer to Kuala Lumpur for any decision. This clearly shows that Sabah, in Malaysia, is just a failed promise,” he said.

He said the Cobbold Commission was set up to determine whether the people of North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak, supported the proposal to form the Federation of Malaysia, which was also responsible for the subsequent drafting of the Constitution of the Federation of Malaysia prior to the nation’s formation on Sept 16, 1963.

“Initially, there were five nations called to form Malaysia, namely Singapore, Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya. The wealth was supposed to be shared among the five nations. And then Brunei and Singapore pulled out, and there were only three left.

“Considering there is a 100 per cent share, under the Malaysia Agreement, which constitutes that wealth will be equally divided between the three partners, if it is distributed amongst Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya, each will be getting about 33.3 per cent.

“But today, you are seeing that it is divided between 13 states … so meaning each are just getting about seven per cent. What happened to the promises?” he pointed out.

Karim, who is also former Assistant Minister of Finance, said it was the duty of Sabahans to put things right.

“Before Malaysia was formed, Sarawak was all the time quiet and Sabah was the one making the decision. So when we decided to form the nation, Sarawak just followed suit, that shows how powerful Sabah was in the past.

“Today, our dignity is gone. When we look at neighbouring Sarawak, we are far behind, we do not dare to look at them today. They are so developed and Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia,” he said.

He said to put things correct, the Constitution needs to be put right, but stressed that it was not easy to do.

“We need to be free from colonisation. When we gained independence, we were supposed to be free to choose our own leaders … we used to be able to do so, but not anymore,” he said.

Touching on the five per cent oil royalty from Petronas, he said it is acceptable but the oil company should provide at least 20 per cent share for Sabah.

“There is not even a single Sabahan sitting on the Petronas’ board of directors. This is not right.

“It is not that I love Malaysia less, it is just I love Sabah more,” he said.