Sabah :The Sold Out State

Hantu Laut

I was still a young man when the idea of the formation of Malaysia was mooted by Tunku Abdul Rahman, supposedly? 

I believe the idea of the making of Malaysia incorporating Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei was fed to the Tunku by the British, who feared that independent Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei would eventually become territories of Indonesia. 

The Tunku can propose, but without tacit agreement of the British government it could not have become reality.

Sukarno, according to British intelligence at that time was already hankering for territorial expansion. Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei looked ideal for his greater Kalimantan and of his greater Nusantara dream.

The concept of Nusantara (the union of all Southeast Asian countries) is not new, it had been around since the days of Gajah Muda of the Majapahit Kingdom. 

Gajah Muda, a powerful military leader and Prime Minister of Majapahit had taken an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to eat food containing spices until he had conquered all of Nusantara (Malay Archipelago) and to bring them under Majapahit's rule. Sukarno must have harboured the same ambition.

The British apprehension of Sukarno's expansionist policy was proven right when in 1969 Indonesia annexed West New Guinea, which was still under Dutch rule at that time. In 1975, under Suharto, seen less belligerent, Indonesia invaded and occupied East Timor and declared as its 27th province. East Timor was a former Portuguese colony. Only after mounting international pressure and a UN-sponsored act of self-determination did Indonesia relinquish control of the territory in 1999.

If Indonesia had been a British colony it would had been foregone conclusion that the British would have handed us over to Indonesia, not Malaya.

Besides, not giving the Tunku the credit for the idea of the formation of Malaysia, I also strongly believe Sabahans had been played out by the British and the so called Cobbold Commission. It was a mere fact finding mission as there was no real referendum held to seek opinion and consent of adult Sabahans. 

Initially, there were some dissenting voices, but were quickly muffled by promises of positions and largesses. 

It was just a few leaders picked from various ethnic communities that decided the fate of the country for the rest of the nescience population. 

Below is what Lord Cobbold wrote of the findings of his Commission.

About one-third of the population of each territory strongly favours early realisation of Malaysia without too much concern about terms and conditions. Another third, many of them favourable to the Malaysia project, ask, with varying degrees of emphasis, for conditions and safeguards varying in nature and extent: the warmth of support among this category would be markedly influenced by a firm expression of opinion by Governments that the detailed arrangements eventually agreed upon are in the best interests of the territories. The remaining third is divided between those who insist on independence before Malaysia is considered and those who would strongly prefer to see British rule continue for some years to come. If the conditions and reservations which they have put forward could be substantially met, the second category referred to above would generally support the proposals. Moreover once a firm decision was taken quite a number of the third category would be likely to abandon their opposition and decide to make the best of a doubtful job. There will remain a hard core, vocal and politically active, which will oppose Malaysia on any terms unless it is preceded by independence and self-government: this hard core might amount to near 20 per cent of the population of Sarawak and somewhat less in North Borneo.

—Lord Cobbold, Cobbold Commission

Lord Cobbold also stressed that all parties enter the federation as equal partners.

Are we equal partners in the federation?

We should be a federated state in a federal union with constitutionally guaranteed autonomy, not a unitary state as most West Malaysian politicians seemed to think 

There have been many disputations about the special conditions imposed by Sabah and Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia, which have eroded over the years given away by every leader of every succeeding state government. Most, if not all of the 20 points disappeared under the Berjaya government.

Sabah was sold out by its own selfish leaders.

Today, Malaysia is half-a-century old, it's water under the bridge and it's too late to cry over spilled milk.

What we need to do is to vote in politicians who would protect our state rights through the parliamentary process, not those who kowtow to West Malaysian leaders and look up to them as superiors for their own selfish self-preservation. It's time Sabah leaders stop subordinating themselves and start looking at Federal leaders as their peers, not as their bosses.

To bring in Pakatan Rakyat as alternative government will not solve the problems of the same colonialistic mentality, the same rule will be used by them to control state leaders. 

Unfortunately, we lack credible leaders to carry out this mission. I say the day will come and it's only a matter of time before we return to our senses.

Aspiring young educated Sabahans should pool their resources to come together to take on the mighty BN/UMNO and decide our own destiny within the concept of equal partners in the federation.

Below is a video of a speech by Ansari Abdullah, which depicts accurate events leading to the formation of Malaysia.





I am surprised  that there are Sabahans and Sarawakians, who were stupid enough to start idiotic campaign of wanting to pull Sabah and Sarawak out of Malaysia.

If anything, it won't be true Sabahans that will try take the state out of Malaysia, not the KDM, not the local Bajau, Suluk,Bugis,Malay,Chinese and DLL. It will be the illegal Filipinos  from Southern Philippines. They have the numbers, the balls and the arms.

Do West Malaysians Deserve To Have Maids ?

Hantu Laut


The West Malaysians are having serious problem getting maid to work. The Malaysian Insider reported here.


Have they asked themselves why?


Well, if you treat your maids like animals plus giving them miserable pay and forced then to work unreasonably long hours, who would want to work for you. You can put you money where your mouth is.


My daughter who lives in Cambodia told me even the Cambodian government are not encouraging their girls to come to Malaysia to work as maid and the flow have stopped after a few cases of maid abuse and one death at the hand of a monstrous employer.


The maids are not coming, not so much because of wages, it is because of abusive employer, particularly those who could hardly afford a paid help, but nevertheless was given approval to have a one. The unfortunate maid not only get abused but also do not get her regular wages on time or in some cases not at all. 


The abuse started the day the maid landed in West Malaysia first by agent collecting exorbitant fees and the abuse continued with some employers deducting the agency fee they paid the agent from the maid's salary.


Some poor maid may end up not getting any wages for the first six months and no day off. Food, it will be scraps off the table.


That how West Malaysians treat their maids I was told. It may not be widespread but the few bad apples have spoiled the whole basket.


There must be some truth in the story, otherwise, how could they faced such great difficulty in getting maids from other countries to work. 


Malaysia's bad reputation of maid abuse has driven away these poor humans to greener pastures where employers are humans and behaved like one.


The irony of maid abuse in West Malaysia transcends rationality, be they Chinese, Malay or Indian, maid abuse can manifest in any of the household. 


The government is equally to be blamed for not putting in place a proper legislation for employment and protection of maids. How can human being work without day off. The government knew of this practice yet closed its eyes to such abuse.


The Malaysian Insider reported that "With a combined take-home pay of RM5,600, they can well afford the RM650 a month it costs for an Indonesian maid but there simply aren’t any to be had. At least not through legal channels"

I believe it is false accounting and could be one of the causes of maid abuse. Those who can hardly afford to have maid were allowed to have one.


If the Westerners can survive without domestic help why can't these people be the same?

A combined income of RM5,600 is not enough to support a maid for a married couple with one or two children. With free food and lodging provided the total cost of keeping a maid would be over RM1,000 per month.With outstanding mortgages, car hire-purchase and children going to schools the couple would be hard-pressed to make ends meet. 

It is this kind of people who are likely to abuse their maids and less likely wealthy families. 

With such bad reputation and two foreign governments already banned their citizens to work as maids in Malaysia do the West Malaysians deserve to have maids.

You hardly hear of maid abuse in Sabah and Sarawak.

Malaysian Savage

Hantu Laut

We are again in the news, again for the wrong reason.This time not only abuse but murder of a maid. It is becoming the rule rather than the exception.There are just too many cases making Malaysians seen as savages.

A.Murugan was charged in court for the murder of his Indonesian maid.Murugan physically abused his maid and locked her up in a toilet until being rescued by police.She died in hospital a few days later.

I have written more than enough on this subject, the last one here.

The Making Of A Nation

Hantu Laut

Ten years after giving up power of its biggest colony on the Indian sub-continent, she was getting tired of administering the last few remaining colonies in its far-flung empire in the Far East. World War II had shaken its resoluteness and weakened its economic might.

The lost of the 'Jewel In The Crown' was a wake-up call for Britain to return rightfully what didn't belong to them. It's time for decolonisation. It was time to pack up and go home. The last few remaining colonies of the British Empire in Asia and Africa literally had independence thrown on their laps. It was a peaceful and smooth transition of power from colonial masters to colonial subjects without the horrific bloodshed that some less fortunate colonies had to suffer to get independence from the colonial masters.

We might have shed some sweat and tears but otherwise it was the most civilised manner Britain had conducted itself when it gave independence to nations in this region. There were no real heroes of independence that one can really talk about in the lore of nationalist heroes the like of Mahatma Ghandi, Che Guevara and other freedom fighters, but there were a few groomed champions.

Malaya then comprised of Federated State, Unfederated States and the Straits Settlements.In January 1946 the British proposed for a Malayan Union to unite the whole of Malaya under a strong central government, but the proposals were resisted by the Malays, who quickly formed a political party known as United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and for Malays only.

The Malayan Union concept was abandoned and in its place the 'Federation of Malaya Agreement' was signed on 21 January 1948 and came into effect on 1 February same year. A common citizenship was created for all who acknowledged Malaya as their permanent home and gave their undivided royalty. Citizenship were also given to the Chinese and Indians immigrants as one of the conditions stipulated by the British. 

After the fall of Malaya and Singapore to the Japanese during World War II the communists mounted a campaign of active resistance against the Japanese and hope to gain control of the country in September 1945, but the attempt was thwarted by the arrival of the British military administration. The communists insurrections continued until after the end of World War II and after Malaya gained independence on 31 August 1957.

Those who depicts Chin Peng as liberator and hero of independence were trying to rewrite the history book. Chin Peng was a leader of a communist insurgency that tried to take over the country through violence and armed struggle.The Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) continued its arm struggle trying to overthrow a legitimate government.

Chin Peng renewed the insurgency in 1967, which went on until 1989. How could Chin Peng be termed a hero, a liberator and freedom fighter when he wanted independence from an already independent nation and a government elected by the people using violence and armed insurrection.

For anyone who want to learn to rewrite history read Gavin Menzies' two books, he has the knack of rewriting history (Menzies wrote the books '1421' and '1434' that changed the history of navigation and discoveries, giving all credits to China as the pioneers,discoverers, inventors, including the discovery of the Americas by the Chinese, not Columbus).

After the independence of Malaya, the last remaining colonies of the British Empire in the Far East were Hong Kong, Singapore, North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and its protectorate Brunei. Britain feared that the Borneon states would eventually be victims of territorial grab by the region's bigger power if given independence on their own, unless, Britain were prepared to guarantee giving security and defence in the event of external aggression from its neighbours.

The fear was Indonesia and the Philippines. This fear was proven true when the formation of Malaysia was announced. Indonesia's Sukarno immediately launched a confrontation against Malaysia with its 'Ganyang Malaysia' (Crush Malaysia) battle cry and promising that he would take over Malaysia before the cock crows on 1st August 1963. 

Although, it has an outstanding claim over Sabah the Philippines being militarily weak could only cut off diplomatic relations with Malaysia, without any threat of military action.

There were many military incursions by Indonesia along the Borneon borders between Sabah/Sarawak and Indonesian Kalimantan.There were also military and guerrillas landings on the shores of Peninsula Malaysia.The one that almost saw the light at the end of the tunnel was the Indonesian backed rebellion by the North Kalimantan National Army (TNKU) against the Sultan of Brunei led by leaders of Parti Rakyat Brunei Dr.Azhari and Ahmad Zaidi.The British army was able to suppress the rebellion and Azhari and Ahmad Zaidi fled to Indonesia.

Kota Kinabalu was not spared from Sukarno's psychological war. As a young boy then, I still remember the drone of an approaching aircraft that flew very low over our house in the early hours of the morning just before dawn few months before the formation of Malaysia.That instantly reminded me of Sukarno's promise of "Sebelum ayam bercokok" (before the cock crows) and think quietly to myself, is that it, they are here to take us?

By 1965, the height of the confrontation there were 14,000 British and Commonwealth forces in Borneo.There were also British, Australian and New Zealand SAS Regiments that pursued the attackers over the border into Kalimantan in secrets.This was only revealed many years after the incidents.

Before the formation of Malaysia the British government set up a fact-finding  mission to find out the views of the people of Sabah and Sarawak.The Cobbald Commision was set up to collect information regarding the concept of Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore joining the Federation of Malaya to form a new nation to be named Malaysia. Brunei eventually decided not to join union with Malaysia, which mean the Sultan would lose his status as absolute monarch and his position reduced to ceremonial status like other sultans in the Federation of Malaya.The Sultan of Brunei was very rich even then, the only oil producing country in Borneo.

I take the findings of the Cobbold Commission with great amazement and trepidation. It was unforgivable sham. There was no referendum held in Sabah and Sarawak on the wishes of the people to join Malaysia. What the commission did was to gather a few tribal leaders of the indigenous people and selected few from other minority communities, who were beholden and sycophantic to the British and sought their views, which the British already knew would be in the affirmative.

Some of these leaders have little credit to be regarded as representative leaders.There were objections from the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, but these objections were drown out by the Commission putting forth those selected leaders as mouthpieces of the people of the two states.

Priorities had already been established in London and Kuala Lumpur, irrespective of the outcome of the findings of the Commission the formation of Malaysia was imminent.

The findings of the Cobbold Commission was a sham.

Members of the Cobbold Commission were:

Lord Cobbold, former Governor of Bank of England, the Chairman.

Dato Wong Pow Nee, Chief Minister of Penang.

Mohammad Ghazali Shafie,Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sir Anthony Abell, former Governor of Sarawak.

Sir David Watherson, former Chief Secretary of Malaya.

As can be seen not even one representative each from Sabah and Sarawak sat as member of the Commission.The British already had the answer even before they deployed the Commission on a fact finding mission. Yet they had the cheek to claim they had impeccable records of a strong democratic system and freedom of human rights. Sabahan and Sarawakian were never given the choice, the freedom between choosing their own independence and joining a new nation.


Although, I have no evidence to back it, I believe the idea of the formation of Malaysia was not Tungku Abdul Rahman's idea, it was fed to him by the British. The Tungku was not an ambitious man, even the independence of Malaya was served on the platter to him.

Due to the confrontation by Indonesia the formation of Malaysia, which was supposed to be on 31st August was delayed to 16th Sept 1963.

A new nation was born on 16 Sept 1963, but East Malaysian were cowed to celebrate National Day (Merdeka or Independence Day) on 31Aug.

The Ugly Singaporeans

Hantu Laut

The United Nations will launch "Day Off" campaign in Singapore on Thursday to drive home the point that a day off every week for foreign maids working in the city state should be made mandatory.

The gleaming city state of Singapore has one of the highest per capita income in Asia and considered a highly developed nation. Unfortunately, this squeaky clean city has one of the worse working conditions for foreign maids and a government who doesn't care at all for the foreign domestic workers dreadful terms of employment.

Not only are they poorly paid, many are not given a day off for the whole duration of their contracts.Salaries are paid on discriminatory basis based on country of origin and colour of the skin.

Indonesia and Sri Lankan maids are paid up to S$280 a month and Filipinas up to $350.In comparison, Hong Kong and Taiwan employers pay US$500 and US$550 respectively.

There are close to 170,000 foreign maids in Singapore and half of this number are believed not to have a rest day at all according to a United Nation's report and some have to work almost round the clock. The Singapore government has done nothing at all to stop this abuse of human rights.Domestic workers are not included in the country's employment act and are, therefore, left at the mercy of their employers.

How could such a modern and highly developed society behaved in such inhuman, uncivilised and appalling manner.This is nothing less than modern day slavery, getting maximum output on a meagre payment and horrendous working conditions.

There were a few cases of maid abuse before which seemed to have ceased after government harsh punishment on the perpetrators. For fear of losing their only source of income there may be significant number of unreported cases of abuse.

It is obvious most Singaporeans can only be disciplined by force of law, just like littering and breaking of the highway codes.They don't do it out of their sense of civic pride.They don't do it in their country because of the very strict laws.

The moment they come to Malaysia, they treat it like one big trash can and the Malaysian highways as race tracks and for some no need to pay traffic summonses.