‘Sabah and Sarawak largely ignored during Dr M’s time’
KUCHING: Sabah and Sarawak did not enjoy much development and were largely ignored throughout Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s 22 years as prime minister, say local political leaders.
Sabah STAR president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the underdevelopment in his state could be attributed to Dr Mahathir’s “discriminatory policies” and treatment.
“Dr Mahathir made it taboo to talk about Sabah’s rights. He wanted everything centralised and told me that Sabah’s rights were temporary,” said Dr Jeffrey, who led the think tank of the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) government under his elder brother PBS president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan from 1985 to 1994.
Dr Jeffrey said that during Dr Mahathir’s 22 years in office, he diverted development funds to the peninsula and removed his brother, who was then chief minister, from the State Security Committee.
Dr Mahathir’s tampering of the two-year rotation system for the state’s chief minister post also adversely affected the state’s development, Dr Jeffrey claimed.
He added that Project IC – the allegation that foreigners were given citizenship in exchange for voting for the ruling coalition – happened while Dr Mahathir was in office, and this caused long-term damage to Sabah’s security and political landscape.
Dr Jeffrey was responding to Dr Mahathir’s remarks that the slow progress in Sabah and Sarawak should be attributed to politicians in the two states being “greedy” and only interested in making a “quick buck”.
The former premier, at a recent forum on economic challenges faced by the country’s youths, also said Sabahans and Sarawakians have the “poor mentality of wanting an easy way out”.
Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said that during Dr Mahathir’s tenure, Sabah and Sarawak were often treated as “stepchildren”.
He asked what the former prime minister had done to improve infrastructure during his tenure, which left both states as the least developed in the country.
Abdul Karim claimed that all requests for better highways, schools, hospitals, airports and
other projects were shot down.
He also alleged that Dr Mahathir was only interested in “squeezing” Sabah and Sarawak of their resources, such as oil and gas, to support mega projects in the peninsula such as Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, the Sepang International Circuit and other costly ventures.
“What did he do to increase the annual monetary grants to our two states, which should have increased gradually as agreed to under the Malaysia Agreement 1963?
“It is only under the present administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that we saw some light at the end of the tunnel.
“His approval of the Pan Borneo Highway finally saw a muchawaited infrastructure project becoming a reality,” Abdul Karim said in a statement.
The minister also said that during Dr Mahathir’s time in office, there was no attempt to improve the economic situation in Sabah or Sarawak, which led to many young people leaving to work in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and even the Middle East.
He added that Dr Mahathir’s description of Sabah and Sarawak leaders as only wanting an easy way out “is derogatory in nature and reflects how he looks down on Sabah and Sarawak”.