Malaysia Day

Yesterday,16 the September, was the 44th anniversary of the formation of our country when Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah, and Singapore got together to form Malaysia.

Compared to the 31st August celebrations, Malaysia Day is rather muted. In Sabah, the date is the official birthday of the State Governor. This year because the date falls in the month of Ramadan, official celebrations have now been postponed to next month.

It does make sense that we as a nation should focus on one date, but, we must also acknowledge the date when the nation was officially born. We can’t pretend like it never happened.

Those who tend to get upset over this are the older generation who lived through the events which led to the formation of Malaysia. They still remember Sukarno’s ‘Konfrontasi ‘and the Manila claim over Sabah.The intentions of these two countries were obvious. And, they argue, if more emphasis is given on the early hardships, maybe, the younger generation will become more appreciative of the country as citizens.

Manila’s refusal to drop the Sabah claim up to now, and the recent Jakarta’s attempt to include Sipadan as part of its territories can be construed as reminders of these unfulfilled ambitions.Though we are married to someone else, true love knows no bounds!

As for the younger generation, do they care?

Before the new country came into being, there were those who were in favour of it and those who did not like the idea. At the end of the day because of the then communist threat and the geo-political realities , the idea of Malaysia was too big to be ignored and everybody came around to accept it as the only way out if Sabah were ever to be independent and her security assured.

On balance,we have made a tremendous progress, physical developments have been rapid, many who came back after a 44 year absence could hardly recognise the place.

However, on the flip side of the coin , our political development has not been so orderly, and the political leadership has been rather poor.

Generally speaking, some of the leaders have not paid back the voters who have placed their trust in them. While urban areas are said to have progressed, the rural areas have not been so fortunate.

Many native Sabahans have not benefited their fair share of the cake. Owing to poor infrastructure, access to some remote areas is next to impossible, many isolated communities do not have schools, health centres, electricity or clean water.

This is despite the representational system that is practised in the country. Elected representatives do not take pride in teaching the villagers how to fish, as their own priorities seem to only secure votes during elections. As a result, these communities have become too dependent on hand-outs and are not self reliant.

Despite the diversity and the complexity of our state, if we have contributed anything useful to the nation, it is our approach in handling our exemplary race relations, which seems to be so elusive to the other half of the country.

Then, we can’t ever be too complacent, we have a long way to go before we sleep.

Happy Malaysia Day!