PBS’ VIEW OF BORNEONIZATION OFF THE MARK

By: DANIEL JOHN JAMBUN

RECENTLY, the Secretary General of Parti Bersatu Sabah, Datuk Henrynus Amin, hailed the recent appointment of Sabahans to head the State Information Department and State Broadcasting Department (RTM Sabah).

His comments, of course has some merit; Borneonization has indeed started in some small way in Sabah, thanks to the noises made mainly from the opposition. The BN leaders have been making very some noise, but very cautious ones, on the matter for fear of political repercussions from their KL bosses.

However, Henrynus’ decision to praise Borneonization recently, although well-intended and meant to appreciate and encourage more Borneonization, was actually a bit premature and off the mark.

As I see it the process of Borneonization in Sabah is still in its infancy, which is pathetic, knowing that we have been in Malaysia for almost half a century and that Boeneonization was actually promised, clearly and specifically, in the 20 Point Agreement and the Intergovernmental Committee Report.

The appointment of Sabahans to head the State Information Department and State Broadcasting Department (RTM Sabah) are only two of the few Sabahans so far heading federal government departments.

There are many more departments which are still headed by officers from the Peninsular, and most glaringly is the National Registration Department which had come under fire for so long for having committed unbelievable blunders in the registration details of Sabahans, involving their names, race, citizenship status and religion. The simple reason this happened was because of the department’s very poor knowledge of Sabah’s cultural and demographic background.

And if the local officers here filled up the forms correctly (e.g. someone with a ‘bin’ being a Christian), we suspect the officers in Kuala Lumpur arbitrarily correct the form and change the religion to Islam, believing the Sabah officers made an error.

The other matter which PBS and other BN component parties shuld be aware of is that just because a department is headed by a Sabahan doesn’t mean true Borneonization has taken place!

This is because Borneonization doesn’t only mean the appointment of a Sabahan to head a department. It also means that the department would then be free from the absolute control of its Kuala Lumpur bosses, and would now have some degree of freedom to make decisions based on the director’s knowledge and experience with the Sabah’s situation, culture and demographic backgrounds. If the director is still under the absolute control of KL, and has little power to act properly for the benefit of Sabahans, then Borneonization will just be a decoration, the director would just be a puppet, and the whole department fails to render due services to the people of Sabah.

Borneonization true meaning is the departments headed by Sabahans operates on Borneo-based knowledge and rights for the benefits of Sabahans and Sarawakians, and the departments’ decisions are respected by the Kuala Lumpur bosses.

Borneonization would also fail if the head of the departments are Sabahans but their middle-rank officers are from the Peninsular, and these middle-rank officers are wielding unreasonable power and control over the policies, management and program implementations of those departments, to the extent that the Sabahan directors have little power to exert their will and authority because they would be afraid to be reported to his Kuala Lumpur bosses.

Borneonization means the whole of the federal departments are operated with the Borneo corporate culture and leadership although still guided by the overall policy of the ministries concerned. In a truly Borneonized federal department, a Sabahan walking into its office would feel at home, with Sabahans themselves serving the clients and speaking in the Sabah accent, instead of having a Peninsular Malaysian speaking and acting in the less familiar Peninsular mannerism.

Defintely a Dusun villager coming to the NRD would feel very much more confortable speaking to officers in Dusun rather than to a Peninsular Malaysian. Such an arrangement would definitely be more conducive to efficiency and would contribute to what we keep calling excellence and effectiveness of government service.

As such, I would suggest the BN parties, along with the opposition, should urge the government to speed the process of Borneonization and fill up those voids still waiting to be filled, and not just be too eager to praise and appreciate too hastily.

The statement by UPKO Supreme Council Member, Suip Saniman on wednesday was more realistic as he urged for the speeding up of the process of Borneonization, citing the Prime Minister’s words to Sabah BN leaders two years ago during which the PM said that the heads of federal departments in Sabah should be Sabahans. We wonder, if full Borneonization will actually materialize, knowing the government’s half-hearted desire to implement it.