Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry on how the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades

Last month, together with DAP MPs Hiew King Cheu (Kota Kinabalu), Teo Nie Ching (Serdang) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut), I visited Kota Belud and Tuaran, which left us with one abiding impression – how the dreams of Sabahans in forming Malaysia had been betrayed in the past five decades.

In Kota Belud, 800 students and 54 teachers of SMK Tambulion have been suffering daily from the worst and most disgraceful 8km road which covered them in dust, turning them into orang putih, an ordeal which will last another year or two.

But this was not the only outrage in Kota Belud, for we visited Camp Paradise military complex meant to house 1,800 personnel. What we saw were impressive high-rise quarters which were virtually empty. Camp Paradise is now Ghostland Paradise with only some 35 personnel in a complex for 1,800 people – what a gross waste of public funds.

Will the Defence Ministry decide that no new army complexes would be built in the country until Camp Paradise is fully utilised?

We also visited the Jelapang Padi in Kota Belud where 5,300 acres of padi land and 500 houses were flooded under six feet of water in January caused by absence of proper drainage and irrigation system.

In Tuaran, we found that it deserves a place in the Book of Records.

This is what I tweeted from Tuaran:

• In Tuaran attend DAP CNY OH Sabah tale of horrors continue Tuaran has most unique hospital not just Msia but world – without a single bed!

• 150k ppl Tuaran have 2go2KK 4hospitalisation Big shame! 4nearly 30 yrs string of promises 2build ward w beds never met #Save Sabah/Malaysia!

• 2nd Tuaran horror Dy educ minister Fuad promised last yr work on new secondary school in Pekan Nabalu near Tuaran wld start b4 Xmas Not kept

• Horror3 – 1994 Umno/BN promised 2build bridge over Sg Damit Tuaran Promises repeated in 4 gen elections Never kept #Save Sabah/Malaysia!

Our visits to Kota Belud and Tuaran have confirmed the shocking neglect, discrimination and marginalization of the ordinary Sabahans regardless of race, religion or region by a handful of political opportunists who have waxed rich from the wealth of the state of Sabah while the people of Sabah had been reduced to the poorest in Malaysia.

2013 in three years’ time mark Sabah’s 50th anniversary in the formation of Malaysia. It is appropriate in preparing for the occasion to seriously assess whether the dreams of Sabahans in 1963 to form Malaysia together with Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed.

Have the people of Sabah been granted their full citizenship rights as Malaysians in the past five decades?

Let the debate and soul-searching begin as to how one of the richest states in Sabah had been reduced in five decades to become the poorest state in the federation.

In the nineties, the Barisan Nasional promised Sabahans that poverty in Sabah would be eradicated in the year 2,000. However, instead of abolishing poverty in 2000, Sabah’s poverty rate became the worst in the whole of the country.

Barisan Nasional next promised that hard-core poverty in Sabah would be abolished in 2010. This is another candidate heading for the mountainous dump heap of Barisan Nasional broken promises, in Sabah and in Malaysia!

Sabahans and Malaysians remember that to topple the PBS Sabah government, Umno and Barisan Nasional pledged that if they come to power in Sabah, they would be genuine power-sharing through the rotation of the post of Sabah Chief Minister among the three major communities in the state.

What is the Umno/Barisan Nasional record of their rule of Sabah in the past 16 years since 1994?

UMNO/BN had betrayed their pledge of power-sharing by rotation of Sabah Chief Minister’s post as in the past 16 years, the Chief Minister’s post was held by a Kadazan native for 9 months, Chinese for 4 years and Umno for more than 11 years!

Nothing could be more eloquent than this episode to highlight the enormity of the breach of faith and betrayal of pledge of Umno/Barisan Nasional to the people of Sabah in the past 16 years of their rule of Sabah.

This is a far cry from the great promises shared by Sabahans in the early decades of nationhood.

Bapa Malaysia and Malaysia’s first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman made the historic proposal for the formation of Malaysia comprising Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore at a speech to the Singapore Foreign Correspondents’ Club on 27th May 1961.

The people of Sabah and Sarawak were promised progress and development, at least to the level achieved by the Peninsular states.

Have these promises to Sabah and Sarawak been fulfilled in the past five decades? The answers must be a loud No.

Where have all the wealth of Sabah and Sarawak gone to in the past five decades?

After nearly five decades, many in Sabah and Sarawak even lack the most basic infrastructures to be found in the rest of Malaysia like regular electricity supply, uninterrupted piped water and good roads and bridges.

This year, the people of Tawau celebrated Chinese New Year’s Eve in darkness because of power blackout – not a rare occurrence but a regular ordeal to the people of Tawau, Sandakan, Lahat Datuk and most parts of Sabah. The provision of piped water is in constant state of crisis. The state of the roads and bridges in Sabah are a scandal.

The people of Sabah are entitled to ask why with Sabah’s immense wealth, they cannot enjoy the basic infrastructures that are taken for granted in other states – why, for instance, Sabahans must suffer constant power black-outs which are unheard of in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Alor Star, Ipoh, Seremban, Malacca, Johore Bahru, Kuantan, Kota Bahru, Kuala Terengganu – even in Kuching, Sibu, Miri?

After Tunku Abdul Rahman’s historic proposal for the formation of Malaysia in May 1961, various consultations were conducted after various objections internally as well as from foreign powers, even involving the United Nations.

There was a Cobbold Commission which conducted a survey of the people in Sabah and Sarawak to ascertain the views on the formation of Malaysia.

I think there is no more meaningful manner for Sabah and Sarawak to mark their 50 years of Malaysian nationhood than to conduct a comprehensive review of the successes and failures in all aspects of development in these two states in the past five decades with feedback from the people Sabah and Sarawak.

I therefore call on the Federal Government, together with the Sabah and Sarawak state governments, to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry on how the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry should conduct hearings in all the 57 parliamentary constituencies in Sabah and Sarawak to give an opportunity for the voices of Sabah and Sarawak to be fully heard.

If the Federal Government is not prepared to establish such a Royal Commission of Inquiry, then the Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia GTP Roadmap should take over this onerous and challenging task.

[Speech (6) by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang in Dewan Rakyat on the Royal Address on Thursday, 18th March 2010]