Malaysia: One country, three histories
OVER some tea, proffesor Shamsul Amri Baharuddin had a chat with a 40-something geography PhD graduate from Peninsula Malaysia.
The subject was what was happening in Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, especially over MA63 (Malaysia Agreement 1963).
MA63 set out the terms and condit ions i n which Nor t h Borneo (as Sabah was called), S a r a w a k a n d S i n g a p o r e agreed to merge with the Federation of Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia.
“Can you please explain to me what is MA63?” asked the PhD graduate.
“Don’t you know that there was a Malaysian agreement in 1963 when Malaysia was formed and over the years the agreement has been changed and redefined?” the political analyst replied.
Sha msu l wa s qu ite su rpr i sed t hat someone w it h such qua l i f ic at ion d id not have a broader knowledge on t he subject.
“It made me rea lise t hat if this person doesn’t know or is not clea r about MA63, ca n you imagine what the man on t he st reet k nows about t he subject.
“Probably they know more, I don’t know. It begs the question that generally people from Peninsular Malaysia don’t know much or don’t care about MA63,” he said.
‘AirAsia view’
MA63, Sha msul sa id, is a ver y critica l issue that Malaysians have to understand. He sa id, “we cou ld n’t ta ke t he AirAsia v iew, which is you f ly there [to Sabah and Sarawak] and t herefore you k now t he t wo Bornean states”.
“T h a t i s n o t e n o u g h . Because the word in English is ‘you touch down’ and ‘you go of f ’. How much do you know during that turnaround period? You can’t learn much,” he said.
The political analyst argued that the reason many Malaysians do not understand it is because historically, these three areas called Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have a different trajectory. Malaysia, he said, was one country with three histories.
Histor y, he said, created structures that were frozen the moment MA63 was created. “So, therefore, Sabah remains in the form of the British North Borneo Company ethos [the company that owned North Borneo] and Sarawak by the Rajah Brooke ethos.
“However, Peninsular Malaysia has a complicated and unresolved ethos [where some states were ruled by Sultans, some by Yang diPertuan Besar [loosely translated as President], and others by governors before 1948],” he said.
“Why is Umno not i n Sarawak? Why is it in Sabah? It reflects the reception related state holding ethos [North Borneo Company] in Sabah and the family ethos [Raja Brooke] in Sarawak,” he said.
Not on l y does Ma lay sia have three histories, Shamsul noted, it a lso has t hree tiers of Federation – Federation of Negeri Sembilan (1773), Federation of Malaya (1948) and F e d e r a t i o n o f Ma l a y s i a (1963).
The signif icance of MA63, he said, becomes more important because it gave an idea t hat each construction of t he Fe der at ion, t here wa s a n agreement.
“If you don’t understand this layering, you will not understand the complexities we have, you won’t understand Kitingan’s concept and you wo n’t u n d e r s t a n d wh a t Mahathir is trying to say.
“They are talking about a different narrative. This narrative was informed by the historical experience they have,” he said.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has told Sabahans and Sarawakians to think as Malaysians after he was asked whether Putrajaya consulted Sabah and Sarawak over several issues.
The “Sabah for Sabahans” and “Sarawak for Sarawakians” mentality was not healthy, the prime minister said. Everyone should think of themselves as Malaysians, he said.
‘Malaysia is still Malaya’
In response, Keningau MP and Tambunan assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the “Malaysia” promoted and agreed by our forefathers did not exist as the “Malaysia” that exists today is not what was agreed before MA63.
“What was agreed, promised and assured were, he said: (1) independence through the formation of Malaysia which even Tunku Abdul Rahman promised was “absolute independence in the Federation”.
(2) equal partners through a merger a nd t hat a new nat ion would be created, a confederation, wit h t he Borneo Territories retaining their indiv idua lit ies.
(3) freedom of religion with no official religion for Sabah and Sarawak with a promise by Tunku that Malaysia would be secular and not be turned into an Islamic state.
(4) Eng l i sh a s a n of f ic ia l language.
(5) the political franchise in Sabah and Sarawak will belong exclusively to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
(6) promises of development and security for the Borneo Territories.
(7) Sabah and Sarawak natives would be protected.
(8) the people of Sabah and Sa rawa k shielded by immigration powers.
(9) there would be Borneonisation and that Malayans would not be the new “expatriates” replacing the British.
(10) revenues derived from Saba h a nd Sa rawa k to be returned with Sabah specifica lly prov ided 40 per cent of t he revenues.
“Instead, it turned out that Malaysia is only a change of name for Malaya and Malaysia is still Malaya.
“There was no new nation or new Federation. The Federation that is now called Malaysia is the Federation of Malaya created i n 1957,” said the Sabah Star president.
“The independence celebrated by Malaysians every August 31 is the independence of Malaya and the age of Malaysia dates from August 31, 1957, instead of Malaysia Day, September 16, 1963.”
The voice of Kitingan is the voice of difference not the voice of opposition, Shamsul said, and noted that “we must differentiate that”.
‘They make noise’
As for Dr Mahathir, Shamsul sa id, t he prime minister was expressing a hope that we can see ourselves as Malaysia n f irst. But, he believes t he rea lit y was t hat not ever yone feels happy.
“Everyone feels that they are not given a chance and equality. And most important is for Sabahans and Sarawakians, the Federal government takes all its oil money and only give back five per cent,” he said.
The most i mpor t a nt ev idence Sha msul uses aga i n a nd aga i n t hat Saba h a nd Sarawak have t heir histor y is t he fact t hat he has to carr y his passpor t (ident it y ca rd will suf f ice) when he enters t he t wo states.
“They don’t want to be bullied by the Federation. They want to be recognised as having the ability to manage themselves,” he said.
“When Sabah and Sarawak came together with Malaya to form Malaysia, the agreement was I keep mine and you keep yours. The best example is the passport. It means that they were already born a state with their own identity,” he said.
“Why do I have to carr y my passpor t [or ident it y ca rd] t here? It is because t hey don’t want to be dominated. MA63 is an issue about domination a n d t h e y r e f u s e t o b e dominated.”
Shamsul said it was not that Sabah and Sarawak refused to be Malaysian, it is because they refuse their history to be erased.
“They don’t want Malaya to take over. Especially when it comes to religion because Sabah and Sarawak have a strong Christian bastion.
“T he y don’t spea k loud about it but the undertone in both states when there is no dominat ing inf luence f rom outside, t hey just keep quiet but the moment Malaya come i n to i nf luence t hem, t hey make noise,” he said.
The professor, who is a government consultant on national unity index, said it was the same with English language and education which Sabah and Sarawak want to control.
“They are saying don’t take this away as we have our autonomy. What I look at Sabah and Sarawak is they want to maintain the way their nation was created before they formed Malaysia,” he said.
Shamsul said we must accept the fact that Malaysia was a country separated by sea. “But we also decided [by referendum] to live together but we also decided to live on our own because that is how we were before,” he said.
He said the wise thing to do in this country was for leaders to accept t he fact t hat Malaysia’s MA63 is loosely st r uct u re d fe der a l i sm to a l low people pre-ex istence state to maintain t heir identit y.
“That is what Malaysia should be. For that Malaysia will be a model to the rest of the world. This is what new Malaysia should be,” he said.
“We must exploit our diversity to our advantage and not make it a negative reason.”
As a Sabahan, I feel that Malaysians should celebrate unity in diversity. Kita Kita juga baini (we are all one).