Because people keep sharing the video when they intended to share my morning post instead. Apologies, for I wasn't anticipating that. Refined it a little. Siou.
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When Tunku Abdul Rahman came to North Borneo in 1961, he was surprised to find that there were no Malays and didn't know how to talk to the natives. At first the Malaysia proposal was rejected by North Borneo but the urban Dusuns later supported it, causing a split that formed the splinter between Kadazans and Dusuns.
It was Lee Kuan Yew, not Tunku Abdul Rahman who convinced North Borneo and Sarawak to join Malaysia. The 20 Point Agreement was formed for North Borneo following the Cobbold Commission because we were worried that the Malayans who were better educated, racially segregated and pro-Melayu would convert us into Islam, take our government jobs and replace the British as our colonisers. Brunei was Malay but they opted out. Sarawak had Malays too yet they and Brunei had their own respective rebellions in protest of joining Malaysia that resulted in bloodshed.
Malaysia was formed under the pretence of an equal partnership between Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. Today, Sabah Sarawak are considered 'states' and many peninsular Malaysians still can't tell the two apart though if not for Sabah Sarawak, there would be no Malaysia.
Coming from a pagan culture that believed in oath stones (see: Keningau Oath Stone - http://bit.ly/2c5snIh), the 20 Point Agreement in the modern world, proved to be ineffective as it was merely a gentleman's agreement with no locus standi. A majority of the promises for goodwill between Malaya and North Borneo would soon be broken.
16 September 1963, Donald Stephens chanted "Merdeka" at Padang Merdeka, Kota Kinabalu four times. Three times less than Tunku Abdul Rahman. Malaysia Day would have fallen on 31 August if not for protest from Indonesia and the Philippines.
In December 1964, a little over a year after his appointment, Donald Stephens was removed as Chief Minister of Sabah for wanting to review the Malaysian Agreement because Singapore had been expelled suddenly, without Sabah or Sarawak's knowledge. Sabah's founding father and first Huguan Siou was unceremoniously replaced with Datuk Peter Lo and he was later appointed as the Federal Minister of Sabah Affairs.
1967 saw the reign of USNO and the introduction of the most controversial figure in Sabah history yet. Tun Mustapha bin Harun was a Bajau-Suluk politician who had risen with Donald Stephens during the Merdeka talks. Transitioning from British colonisation into modern politics, he had initially accepted the TYT Governor role instead of Chief Minister because he thought that it would be more powerful.
Tun Mustapha was well liked by the federal government because he was a Muslim and they saw him as their brethren who could represent Sabah despite Muslims being a minority of 38% at the time. The Dusuns then were mostly Christian, spoke a different language and were seen as being too difficult to manipulate by the Malays. Having non-Malay bumiputeras trying to assert their own national identity would have been a threat to Malay supremacy and to nationhood.
The USNO era was harrowing for the indigenous majority of Sabah. Kadazan vernacular schools were denied. Bahasa Melayu was taught in schools instead and for a time, indigenous languages were banned from the radio. Tun Mustapha formed the United Sabah Islamic Association (USIA) with funding from the federal government and mass Islamisation took place among the illiterate natives and some 75,000 (I can't find my original online source but the book, Federal-State Relations in Sabah, Malaysia says 93,482 - http://bit.ly/2c5rFe1) were converted. Priests were extradited and in Tambunan, some were hidden in the jungles by villagers. Non-Muslims were being discriminated against in government office and the economic sector.
In 1973, despite point 1 of the 20 Point Agreement, Sabah's official religion became Islam. We were meant to be a secular state.
The federal government went on to use Tun Mustapha's Bajau-Suluk connections to foster relations with the Moros and when the civil dispute between Mindanao and the Philippines erupted over the Moros' refusal to attack and conquer Sabah, (**edited Tun Razak) may have had plans to take Mindanao as a Malaysian territory as they were Muslim as well. From the support from the Malaysian government came the birth of the Moro National Liberation Front and Sabah opened its doors for the first time to tens and thousands of Sulu refugees in the 70s.
Lavish spending and a playboy lifestyle nearly led to the bankruptcy of Sabah. The federal government was becoming increasingly impatient with Tun Mustapha and engineered his removal through Datuk Harris Salleh with the first Barisan Nasional government in Sabah, Berjaya.
Harris approached Donald Stephens, who had converted and become TYT Governor Tun Fuad Stephens, to step down and run as Chief Minister. The federal government was pushing for the Petroleum Agreement, which Tun Mustapha had refused and Tun Fuad was not about to budge either. Tun Mustapha allegedly had plans to pull Sabah out of Malaysia and with the Sulu nation, form his own country as Sultan (this fler damn trip, I tell you).
Berjaya succeeded and Tun Fuad Stephens was reinstated as Chief Minister in April 1976. 53 days later, 6 June 1976, he died in an horrific plane crash that Sabahans remember as the Double Six Tragedy, killing 11 of Sabah's "illustrious leaders". 14 June, the Petroleum Development Act 1976 was signed by his successor, Harris Salleh, surrendering 95% of Sabah's oil royalties. Labuan, Harris' birthplace was given away as a federal territory for free.
Sabah has since been one of the three largest oil and gas producers in the country with Petronas contributing to 45% of our nation's government dividend.
That's the story of Sabah's Bapa Merdeka and Malaya's Bapa Merdeka's contributions to Malaysia and we all lived happily ever after. Amin.
Some additional references:
- The Borneo Response to Malaysia, Dr James P. Ongkili - http://bit.ly/2c5m1Zs
- The Golden Son of Kadazan, Datuk Peter Mojuntin - http://bit.ly/2c5mpHw
- Politics of Centre-State Conflict: The Sabah experience under the ruling Sabah Alliance (1963 - 1976) - http://bit.ly/2bOIZDj
- The People Love Me, interview with Tun Mustapha, Asiaweek 31 August 1985 - http://bit.ly/2bKm2kE
- Wiki Tun Fuad Stephens and Double Six Tragedy
- Pembangunan Politik Sabah, Sabihah Osman - http://bit.ly/2c5qc7y
- Federal-State Relations in Malaysia - http://bit.ly/2c5rFe1
- Double Six Tragedy and Implications of Political Development in Sabah, Malaysia. Aziz, H. (2014) - http://bit.ly/2c5ttUz
Don't marah me. Syorang baca sejarah saja.
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