By : JOE FERNANDEZ
THE SULUKS are the next big
wave in Malaysian politics, indeed a political tsunami, after Hindraf's makkal
sakthi (people power in Tamil) in 2008. Why not?
There are an estimated
800,000 Suluks in Sabah albeit including illegal immigrants. The fear of such a
political tsunami is evident in the declaration of the Eastern Sabah Security
Command (ESSCOM) and the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone (ESSZONE).
It may be time to say makkal
sakthi in Suluk!
No one can begrudge the
right of the Suluks to stand up and be heard separate from the concerns and
dictates of Putrajaya in Sabah and Sarawak.
But the Suluk and their
Bajau comrades in politics have to keep in mind that they are not Orang Asal
(Original People) in Sabah. Sabahans can still point to the ancestral lands of
the Suluk and Bajau elsewhere in the Philippines. As long as these two
communities remember that, their politics in will be more acceptable in Sabah.
It would not do to underestimate the Orang Asal of Sabah.
Orang Asal support crucial
to Suluk politics
If the Suluks want to have
one leg in the Sulu Archipelago and another leg in the east coast of Sabah
that's entirely their business. After all the kakas from Kerala who sell rojak
in Malaya and the teh tarik mamaks from Tamil Nadu are doing it as well besides
the Pakistanis and Banglawallahs in Sabah. Throw in the odd ah pek or two. But
just in case anyone gets some funny ideas, they should remember that eastern
Sabah is not part of the territory of the Orang Asal in the Sulu Archipelago.
If the Suluks want one of
their kind to be Chief Minister of Sabah again, they have to sort it out with
the Orang Asal. No one, Orang Asal or non-Orang Asal, can be Chief Minister of
Sabah without the support of the Orang Asal. The late Mustapha Harun, the Suluk
Chief, learnt it the hard way.
The Chinese will follow
wherever the Orang Asal are going, a direction which is by no means clear to
most people. This is a synergistic relationship between one group which has
unfortunately never learnt to count and another which can buy at a loss and
sell at a profit since time immemorial. Granted that many Orang Asal leaders
are stooges of Putrajaya's proxies and rogue elements in Sabah but that's a
different story.
We have to keep on the safe
side and assume that there might be some method in their madness.
It's not always the rice
wine -- tuak, lihin or montokou -- talking! That could prove to be deceptive.
One should also note their
more sober moments and take the cue from there.
Putrajaya leaders should be
hauled before ICC for war crimes
Nur Misuari of the Moro
National Liberation Front (MNLF) is also the man to watch if Suluk politics in
Sabah is to get anywhere. Poor chap! Everyone is playing him out and his
people.
Putrajaya is the Chief
Culprit.
They have blood on their
hands.
Think of all the thousands
of innocent people on both sides who died in vain when they were not maimed for
life, and traumatised.
Nur Misuari is right in
pointing out that Malaysia is the main stumbling block to peace in the southern
Philippines. Right is right and wrong is wrong. He should know what he's
talking about. He admits to being trained, armed and financed by Malaysia to wage
war against the Manila Government in the southern Philippines under the guise
of Muslim Brotherhood, whatever it means.
In fact, there's a case for
bringing Putrajaya before the International Criminal Court for war crimes,
crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide in southern Philippines.
If every tinpot dictator in Africa, the Balkans and elsewhere can be hauled up
before the ICC, why not the Malaysia Boleh leaders in Putrajaya committing a
multitude of sins under this nefarious label. The involvement of Mustapha
should be revisited too although the Suluks would beg to disagree. We can't
indulge in selective prosecution.
We can only wish Nur Misuari
well at the peace talks in Jakarta but without Malaysia.
Case for a Federation of Sabah
and Sulu if Manila gives up Archipelago
However, Suluk politics must
accept that Sabahans and Sarawakians will disagree with him saying that Sarawak
belonged to his great great grandfather or something to the effect. He's not
Orang Asal Sarawak. End of discussion.
The Suluks in Sabah must
also accept that defunct Sulu Sultanate also does not have a leg to stand on
Sabah or parts of it. It’s unthinkable that the Suluks, after having fled the
evil of the Manila Government, would want Sabah or parts of it to be awarded to
the Philippines. If the Suluks can wrest the Sulu Archipelago away from the
Philippines, there might be a case for forming a Federation of Sabah and Sulu,
one country, two systems, two immigration systems, and one common market.
The sovereignty of Sabah
rests with its people and not the defunct Sulu Sultanate which has long been
consigned to the dustbin of history.
True, the Sulu Sultans used
to extort tolls at one time from the terrified traffic along the waterways in
eastern Sabah. It's best for the Suluks not to make a song and dance act of
this and misrepresent this criminal act of a pirate as representing private
property rights or as having sovereignty.
By Adat and history, the
entire land area of Sabah and Sarawak is NCR (Native Customary Right) and
belong to the Orang Asal. Again, the descendents of the heirs to the defunct
Sulu Sultanate cannot claim private property rights to Sabah or parts of
it.
Nur Misuari, Sulu, Malaya
have no business in Sabah, Sarawak
Nevertheless, Malaysia
should agree to go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and settle these
matters.
If Sabahans are going to end
up as Filipinos, so be it. At least the Filipinos don't endlessly indulge in
hysterical talk, as if they are in a trance, about ketuanan Tagalog.
Maybe Jeffrey Kitingan will
finally have a chance to get somewhere in his politics as President but of the
Philippines.
He may appoint me as the
Philippines Ambassador to the UN, the Vatican or Malaysia, not that I am
pushing for it. I might even go to Washington which I am told is only as big as
Kajang. I have always wanted to visit Washington, New York and the original 13
colonies in the United States. Something happened here to push the US towards
greatness.
However, the ICJ is certain
to rule that Misuari, Sulu and Malaya have no business to be in Sabah and
Sarawak.
Malaysia a plot against
Sabah, Sarawak by British sodomists
So, that's why Putrajaya
will never agree to go to the ICJ in a million years. They would rather commit
hara kiri en masse since so great would be their so-called shame in the eyes of
the world. They would stand unmasked for the entire world to see for what they
really are and what they are more than capable of doing for narrow, selfish
self-serving ends.
Strangely, none of the
ketuanan Melayuists in Putrajaya, including Mahathir Mohamad the advocate of
the hara kiri culture among Malays, killed themselves when the ICJ ruled that
Pulau Batu Putih or Pedra Branca belonged to Singapore by virtue of Malaysia's inaction
on the island to maintain sovereignty.
Had the ICJ noted that
Singapore was unconstitutionally, unlawfully illegally expelled from Malaysia
in 1965, Pulau Batu Putih would still be Malaysian territory. The then Prime
Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had the doors of Parliament locked until the MPs
agreed to vote to expel Singapore.
There was No Referendum on
Malaysia in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Malaya.
The ketuanan Melayuists in
Malaya, like Sulu and Nur Misuari a la the Brunei sultanate, think that Sabah
and Sarawak are their grandfather's ancestral property bequeathed to them by
the British sodomists, who were only too fond of the Malay boys they kept, as a
parting gift to run their own little colonial empire.
The question of a Referendum
on Malaysia in Sabah and Sarawak, 50 years too late, does not arise. Sabah and
Sarawak should regain their independence of 31 Aug, 1963 and 22 July, 1963
respectively. In fact, in the case of Sarawak, their independence was restored
when the Japanese occupation forces in the country surrendered towards the end
of World War II. The British coerced the Rajah of Sarawak to hand over his
country to them for their nefarious plan to set up Malaysia.
Mahathir should only have
the Right of Reply
The ICJ is certain to rule
that the Manila Government has no business to be in the southern Philippines.
The internal colonisation issue alone, as in South Sudan, will kill them at The
Hague. Nur Misuari should focus on this issue at the UN Security Council. Why
lay waste to the homeland through endless armed conflict when the truth is with
the people of the southern Philippines?
The Suluks complained well
before Lahad Datu about them and the Bajau being marginalised and
disenfranchised by the increasing influx of illegal immigrants, especially from
Sulawesi. Ironically, the leaders of the Suluk and Bajau communities were the
only ones in Sabah to support the formation of Malaysia.
Also, the Suluks in
particular complain about them and the Bajau not having any political party to
represent them and instead were being submerged under the so-called Muslim
Bumiputera label in the electoral rolls and being politically choked to death.
There is also the issue of
the Pala'u (sea gypsies or Bajau Laut) being stateless.
The protem United Sabah
National Organisation (Usno) of the Sabah Suluks and the State Reform Party
(Star), its ally, can be expected to speak up on these major issues in the wake
of Lahad Datu and in view of the forthcoming 13th General Election.
Usno does not appear to have
its own website to highlight issues.
It posts its material in
FaceBook. There might be some websites they can identify to help get a hearing
and spread the message. But there are very few who will publish something even
if they disagree with it.
Everyone, except Mahathir,
has a right to be heard and the right of reply whether we agree or not.
Mahathir, as a former PM, should only be seen and not heard but subject to the
right of reply.
Not easy for Suluks to get
space in the media
The Opposition in Sabah and
Sarawak should not get bogged down by the rhetoric and polemics of the politics
of disruption and distraction.
Often, this is nothing more
than cheap entertainment when not being used as a ploy by cheap publicity
seekers or by the media looking at their bottomlines and to collect angpows.
However, it won’t be that
easy for the Suluks in Sabah to get space in the media.
The media, both mainstream
and the great majority of the alternative media, is public enemy number one in
Malaysia.
One alternative media owner
confided in frustration that the great majority of his people are on the take.
He intends to sack the entire lot after the 13th General Election. He can't
believe that they are capable of running all the "nonsense" that they
are uploading on Sabah and Sarawak in particular.
Many will agree with him on
this observation.
Mahathir more confident than
PR in handling criticism
The corruption of the media
in Malaysia is complete. One needs to beware of the media! Forewarned is forearmed.
It’s an uphill battle for
any 3rd Force in Malaysia to get a hearing in the Court of Public Opinion.
Both Mahathir and Pakatan
Rakyat (PR) are funding the alternative media and various blogs. This amounts
to hundreds of millions in ringgit.
Mahathir runs a blog to
cover up the fact that he's funding the alternative media and various blogs.
In the case of Mahathir, he
just wants his views to be carried and he wants to exercise his Right of
Reply. He doesn't mind if others are
extended the same privilege because that's one way that he can keep himself in
the news and alive. Besides, unlike PR he's confident that he can fend off any
criticism against him.
In the case of Pakatan
Rakyat, their funding comes with a condition: "Don't carry anything that
makes PR look bad. Don’t promote a Sabah/Sarawak-based 3rd Force in Malaysian
politics." The 3rd Force is routinely criminalised, demonised,
dehumanised, neutralised, isolated, and marginalised with a view to exhausting
it and therefore that much easier to eliminate and exterminate.
Free media like looking for
needle in haystack
However, when it comes to
Mahathir, there's nothing that PR can do. He can afford to dole out more money
-- a tiny fraction of his reported US$ 44 billion in ill-gotten gains can go a
long way -- to the alternative media and blogs than PR. So PR has no choice but
live with Mahathir in the alternative media and blogs.
As a fallback option, they
rely on lawsuits to bankrupt their critics and shut them up. They have tried
suing Mahathir too but gave up after he said he's willing to be bankrupted but
he won't shut up.
Taib Mahmud of Sarawak
relies more on the mainstream media and so the alternative media and bloggers
are after his blood simply because he's being tight-fisted with his money when
it comes to them. They care two hoots whether he's corrupt or clean.
The people can only hope for
a media that does not shut out anyone and gives a hearing to all.
That's like looking for a
needle in a haystack.
Joe Fernandez is a graduate
mature student of law and an educationist, among others, who loves to write
especially Submissions for Clients wishing to Act in Person. He feels
compelled, as a semi-retired journalist, to put pen to paper -- or rather the
fingers to the computer keyboard -- whenever something doesn't quite jell with
his weltanschauung (worldview). He shuttles between points in the Golden Heart
of Borneo formed by the Sabah west coast, Labuan, Brunei, northern Sarawak and
the watershed region in Borneo where three nations meet.
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