But on this very day, I will talk about something which I felt need to be shared to all, especially the younger generation of Sabahans of how we, from an independent country of Sabah became a "dependent" country of Malaysia.
History reveals itself. It's been a tradition to celebrate on the 31st of August as a day of Independence of Malaysia (which is not true at all) by all Malaysians. We held the Jalur Gemilang flag high within the skies, proud of seeing it which we can put our heads high. And yet, lies a sad truth within it.
The Jalur Gemilang
Why was the Sabah flag never raised up? Is even Sabah a country at all after forming up as Federation of Malaysia way back in 16 September 1963?
The Actual Sabah flag after gained independence on 31st August 1963
First of all, the Federation of Malaysia is consist of 4 countries during its forming, which are:
1. Malaya (gained independence on the 31st August 1957 from British colonial)
2. Singapore (gained independence on the 9th August 1965 from Malaysia)
3. Sabah (gained independence on the 31st August from British colonial)
4. Sarawak (gained independence on the 22nd July 1963 from British colonial)
As we can see clearly, during the formation of Malaysia Federation in 16th September 1963, Sabah and Sarawak were at "infant stage" as a country. Being the "older brother" in the Federation, Malaya appoint themselves in an agreement to stand as the First Prime Minister of Malaysia, represented by Tunku Abdul Rahman alongside 3 other Chief Ministers, which are Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Stephen Kalong Ningkan of Sarawak and Donald Stephens of Sabah.
During the formation of Federation of Malaysia, all four countries are considered as equal partners, such as the United Kingdom, where they have own administration.
But this slowly transcend into a "new colonization" by the Malaya under the name of the Federation. As if as Lee Kuan Yew can sense something amiss in this federation, he decided to withdraw themselves from this "new form of colonization" and gained independent on the 9th August 1965, almost two years after joined in Malaysia
This can be seen by this information I found on Wikipedia about the history of Sarawak's first Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan.
1966 Sarawak Constitutional Crisis
"Stephen Kalong Ningkan tried to initiate a land reform law that allowed the natives to acquire full title of Native Customary Land. However, with the alleged backing of the federal government, the Sarawak state assemblymen started to pass a motion of no confidence against him. The then prime minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman pushed for Ningkan's resignation.
On 16 June 1966, Ningkan was ousted when the state Governor showed him a letter of no confidence issued by 21 out of 42 legislators and asked Ningkan to resign as Chief Minister. Ningkan refused, saying the letters were not tantamount to a vote of no confidence in the Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly). He was sacked by the governor but eventually reinstated by the Borneo High Court on 7 September 1966, which saw the necessity of a formal vote of no confidence.In his judgement, Justice Harley ruled that the Governor can only dismiss the Chief Minister when both these conditions are satisfied:[5]
(a) The Chief Minister has lost the confidence of the House, and
(b) The Chief Minister has refused to resign and failed to advise a dissolution.
(b) The Chief Minister has refused to resign and failed to advise a dissolution.
Ningkan tried to initiate a dissolution of Council Negri upon his reinstatement of chief minister to seek a fresh mandate from the voters; but the Malaysian government decided to impose a state of emergency in Sarawak, citing chaos in the state.[4] The Malaysian government also amended the Sarawak Constitution to give the power to the Sarawak governor to commence the Council Negri meeting. A vote of non-confidence was passed on 23 September 1966, and this has resulted in the removal of Ningkan from the chief minister office for the second time.[6]"
Source from: Wikipedia.com (Stephen Kalong Ningkan)
I can personally see this move made by Tunku Abdul Rahman is an unjust one. By removing the first Chief Minister who is only want to ensure the natives of Sarawak to legally own a land through proper documentation, has been ousted.
Moreover, the Malay ruling even showed its domination based on this information from Wikipedia about how our first Chief Minister of Sabah, Tun Fuad Stephen (known as Donald Stephen before) tried to review their participation in the Malaysia Federation but was plainly rejected by the federal government.
Political Career
"Donald Stephens founded the political party United National Kadazan Organisation (UNKO) in August 1961. He played a key role in negotiating the independence of Sabah and the formation of Malaysia, together with Tun Mustapha of United Sabah National Organisation (USNO), and Tunku Abdul Rahman, the then Prime Minister of Malaya. The formation of Malaysia was finally achieved on 16 September 1963, which is today known as Malaysia Day. He became Sabah's first Chief Minister.
In 1964, Donald Stephens stepped down as Chief Minister to become the first Malaysian federal cabinet member from Sabah. He was replaced by Peter Lo Sui Yin from the Sabah Chinese Association. Stephens became the minister in charge of Sabah affairs under the Prime Minister's department.[8]
Stephens saw Malaysia as the federation of four countries - Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore - as equal partners, as opposed to the eleven states making up the Federation of Malaya, which had less autonomy.[9]
Following Singapore's exit from Malaysia, Stephens sought a review of Sabah's participation in the federation,[10] although he was not seeking secession.[11] However, this was rejected by the federal government, which feared that such a move would endanger the federation as a whole.[12]
In 1973, Fuad Stephens was appointed as the governor of Sabah, known as the Yang di-Pertua Negara (the post was later known as Yang di-Pertua Negeri).[13] He held this position until 1975. Later that same year, Tun Fuad Stephens together with Harris Sallehformed the new political party BERJAYA. They won the 1976 state election, defeating Tun Mustapha's USNO and becoming the new government of Sabah. Tun Fuad Stephens became Sabah's fifth Chief Minister. Forty-four days later, he died in a plane crash."
Source from: Wikipedia.com
The Double Six Tragedy dated on 06th June, 1976
After the death of Tun Fuad Stephen, Sabah's history as a country was shrouded as to make believe the younger generation of Sabah that was actually not more than a state in Malaysia, where it equals to other states like Malacca, Johor, Perak, Pulau Pinang, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Perlis and Sarawak, where it should be as stated by the Late Tun Fuad Stephens, that Sabah is an equal partner of the Malayan country.
This "downgrade" has caused all of the decisions are being made by the federal government unchecked, especially in harnessing the natural resources in Sabah such as wood logs, copper (already depleted) and the most expensive of them all, crude oil also known as "black gold".
Being a Sabahan, it is very unfortunate how Sabah ended up not raising his own flag anymore because we are totally being "assimiliated" into Malaysia not as a Federation, but as a country. Whether we can see Sabah raises his flag as a country once more, only the future can tell and only the younger generations can make this happen.
Happy Sabah Independence Day to all Sabahans. God bless us all.
