By C C Pung
Justice of Peace
Sabah has been neglected like a foster child for too long.
WHAT’S AN AGREEMENT?
Is it a contract? A covenant? Is it binding and therefore legally enforcible, necessarily and without exception.
Recalling the years of debates around the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and my amateurish exploration of semantics and the legal mumbo jumbo on the latter.
I’m now aware of the complexities in Sabah’s pursuit of its supposedly constitutional entitlement to 40% of the revenue that the federal govt collected (and continues to collect) in Sabah.
Yes, even a recent court decision ruled in favour of Sabah.
In some nicely couched terms, the court ruled that the non honouring of that constitutional provision showed the federal government to be a negligent gutter rat.
An appeal has been filed.
Some state-federal dialogues are on going. I suppose that it’ll eventually pay. But when and how much will depend. That’s the judicial and administrative angle.
Sabahans, most if the I assumed, are applauding, hoping that there’s money now to deal with the bad roads and overall sad state of affairs.
It has been neglected like a Foster child for too long.
Many didn’t know. As many have forgotten, that four entities ‘ north borneo, Sarawak, Singapore and the Federated Malay States (Malaya) came together to form Malaysia.
The Malaysian cake has four equal portions until Singapore left (or was sacked, depends on whose history you read). But gradual shenanigans enabled the single Malaya entity to morph into an 11-state monster, messing up the sharing of the cake, sharing of development funds and uddle every national conversation..
Just think, a single parliamentary constituency such as Kinabatangan, Kengau or Lahad Datu is bigger than some smaller states like Perlis, Melaka or Kedah.
While those tiny states enjoyed the service of entire state govt backed by the central govt, huge, thinly populated and poorly developed Sabah constituencies languished in neglwct and isolation.
The centre of their universe is probably a cash-strapped rural district council.
Sabah can and rightly so stand on legal demands.
Malaya thinks different. Its hard for them to wrap their head around a long marginalised child, an after-thought of child of a mistress of the head of the household, suddenly acting up, vexing eloquence and making demands.
The ego of the household chief is bruised.
History is being re examined, entire Malayan supremacy is being challenged !by a presumed ‘nobody’ thumbing his nose and thumping his chest yelling ‘Sabah First’.
This is the front that does not only pose as an existential challenge.
How it is handled and its outcome shall have implications on Malaysia as we know it.
Editor: The views expressed here are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the talantang.com
