‘Give us equality; give us freedom’

By John Brian Anthony

To Sabah and Sarawakian youths liberty is simply the right to be free from 'colonisation'.

I saw this ‘Sabah and Sarawak should get out of Malaysia’ caption on social network Facebook and was drawn to its prominence.

It is, I believe, an indication that the sentiment is gathering steam and I wondered how this could happen to the younger generation of Sabah and Sarawak.

What did the Sabah and Sarawak youths see and experience in Malaysia today that have made them so angry.

Isn’t the Barisan Nasional (BN) government trying to make them happy?

I can only conclude that many of these young educated minds are able to collect information from all sources, analyze it and make their own conclusions.

They have concluded that Sabah and Sarawak have lost their inalienable right to be free. They are now nothing but a colony of Malaya.

The postings seem to sum up the pent up frustrations and anger of the youths.

To give you an insight into their thoughts, I’ve posted some of their views below:

Colonised states

“Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya and Singapore to form Malaysia in the hope of a better future.

“In the end all they see are land grabs and powerful illegal immigrants who can vote the government they want.

“They see job opportunities lost to Malayan people and their natural resources raped and channelled to Malaya.

“They see themselves bullied by officials who run the religious department and interfere in their faith.

“They see themselves deprived of premier education opportunity and made poor by a government that could not care less.

“They see quite simply that all in all the future of Sabah and Sarawak is not going to be better under the colonial policies (ketuanan melayu) of Malaya.”

‘We are building a nation, not a race’

Another posting reads: “Unfortunately the current state leaders are corrupt to the bone.

“The whole BN component parties members are longing for fast short term financial gains.

“They have left the poor people with little or nothing to enjoy. The “racialist” policy of BN Umno are bringing disunity instead of a strong a united country.

“But the leaders of BN refused to acknowledge their folly. BN think that they are all powerful and whatever they say goes.

“Educated young people do not agree to such approach. We are building a nation – not a race, or making a religion supreme.

“Our history and identity are different; how are you going to make that homogeneous. As citizen of Malaysia we should have equal rights.

“It seems Malaysia is practicing ‘Animal Farm’ politics as written by George Owell.

“In Animal Farm, Orwell wrote that “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal then others”.

“That statement seemed to describe what is Malaysia today very well”.

Take us out of Malaysia

Yet another posting further affirms that youths of Sabah and Sarawak are resisting this colonization policy of the federal government.

Says this posting: “Many people have been put under the Internal Security Act (ISA) detention because they advocate the idea that Sabah and Sarawak should get out of Malaysia if they want to progress.

“Sabah and Sarawak are prohibited to get out of Malaysia by law.

“If you want Sabah and Sarawak to get out of Malaysia, you have to hold a referendum or get ready to fight a civil war with Malaya as the “colonial master”.

“But we do not need to resort to fight. The 18 and 20 points agreement posses all the element to make Sabah and Sarawak autonomous.

“Some of the points have been incorporated in the Federal Constitution but (past and present) BN leaders either out of greed or simple ignorance if not plain stupidity did not take these historical circumstances seriously.

“The “National Integration” policy pushed for Ketuanan Melayu ideas and by doing so marginalized the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

“It has deprived us of equal rights and opportunities”.

Ruling governments forewarned

Succint views. It seems the youths of Sabah and Sarawak have decided to change themselves and defend the autonomy principle as embedded in the 18 and 20 point agreements inked with the Federation of Malaya in 1963.

It is BN federal government’s choice whether to turn a blind eye and put cotton wool in their ears so that the voices of the Sabah and Sarawak Youth would not be heard.

Source : Dayakbaru

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