ACTIVISTS FROM THE LAND OF BORNEO WANT OUT FROM MALAYSIA?

Some place on the north and eastern part of the island of Borneo, lies two states called Sabah and Sarawak. Sometimes in September 16, 1963, these states had join a federation ties with various states in Malayan peninsular to form a nation so-called Malaysia.
However, some activist felt based on consensus the reasons why membership in the Malaysian Federation has become irrelevant to Sabah and Sarawak in the 21 st century, just as it has always been irrelevant to Singapore and Brunei since the 20 Th century. Singapore and Brunei have both done even better without Malaysia.

• Accordingly, the results of the UN Referendum, announced on Sept 16, 1963, found that only a third of the people of both Sabah and Sarawak favored the formation of Malaysia, it was pointed out.
• The mood of the collective on the sidelines, according to insiders, has turned distinctly sombre in marked contrast to their light-hearted beginning. ‘Enough is enough’, according to them, ‘after nearly 50 years of Malaysia’. They said Joining federation a 'very bad idea'.
• For a purposes these activist had organized some kind of seminar pertaining to Formation of Malaysia, a Promise Revisited, and the Way Forward. It has been some weeks since the organizers first huddled together in Kota Kinabalu ( Capital City of Sabah) , almost daily, preparing for the July 31 seminar,
• Researching the many seminar topics, and going forward, the activists from two NGOs the Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMA) and the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) want to cut the Gordian Knot on the Federation of Malaysia.
• They hope the two Borneo states will exit from Malaysia in the same manner that Singapore was ushered out in 1965.
• Malaysia is expected to be replaced in Sabah and Sarawak by a loose union of the two states with Brunei and Labuan in a common market with Kalimantan and the 13 provinces - 8 Christian, 5 Muslim in the Philippines south.
• The activists see the opposition alliance, the Pakatan Rakyat, as the sword they need to slice the Knot. The Gordian Knot is an intricate knot tied in Asia Minor by King Gordius of Phrygia. It was cut by Alexander the Great with his sword after hearing an oracle promise that whoever could undo it would be the next ruler of Asia.
• The plan calls for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition to introduce a "Singapore-style" Bill in Parliament for the orderly exit of Sabah and Sarawak from the Malaysian Federation.
• The Bill is expected to have the unanimous support of MPs from Sabah and Sarawak and several other pro-PR MPs in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). No MP in Sabah and Sarawak, it is said, can afford to oppose such a Bill and live to fight another day.
• The exit of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia is expected to pave the way for PR to seize the reins of power in Putrajaya.
• The Gordian Knot theory in Sabah and Sarawak politics appears to be a variation, nay a counter-proposal, to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's still-born Sept 16, 2008, people's revolution to topple Umno from power.
• UMNO the ruling party threw a spanner in the works through Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing who spirited away most of the 57 MPs in Sabah, Labuan and Sarawak to Taiwan for an extended agricultural study tour, an euphemism for the men taking in the fleshpots in Taipei, wining, dining, gambling and shopping till they dropped from sheer exhaustion.
• Each of them, it has been reliably learnt, received an ang pow of RM50,000. This was to help them rebuff Anwar's attempts, initially through Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan, who was quite successful in getting the MPs on his aide. Azmin Ali, who took over from Jeffrey at the express instruction of Anwar, turned the MPs against him.
• Researching the many seminar topics, and going forward, the activists from two NGOs the Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMA) and the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) want to cut the Gordian Knot on the Federation of Malaysia.
• They hope the two Borneo states will exit from Malaysia in the same manner that Singapore was ushered out in 1965.
• Malaysia is expected to be replaced in Sabah and Sarawak by a loose union of the two states with Brunei and Labuan in a common market with Kalimantan and the 13 provinces - 8 Christian, 5 Muslim in the Philippines south.
• The activists see the opposition alliance, the Pakatan Rakyat, as the sword they need to slice the Knot. The Gordian Knot is an intricate knot tied in Asia Minor by King Gordius of Phrygia. It was cut by Alexander the Great with his sword after hearing an oracle promise that whoever could undo it would be the next ruler of Asia.
• The plan calls for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition to introduce a "Singapore-style" Bill in Parliament for the orderly exit of Sabah and Sarawak from the Malaysian Federation.
• The Bill is expected to have the unanimous support of MPs from Sabah and Sarawak and several other pro-PR MPs in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). No MP in Sabah and Sarawak, it is said, can afford to oppose such a Bill and live to fight another day.
• The exit of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia is expected to pave the way for PR to seize the reins of power in Putrajaya.
• The Gordian Knot theory in Sabah and Sarawak politics appears to be a variation, nay a counter-proposal, to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's still-born Sept 16, 2008, people's revolution to topple Umno from power.
• UMNO threw a spanner in the works through Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing who spirited away most of the 57 MPs in Sabah, Labuan and Sarawak to Taiwan for an extended agricultural study tour, an euphemism for the men taking in the fleshpots in Taipei, wining, dining, gambling and shopping till they dropped from sheer exhaustion.
• Each of them, it has been reliably learnt, received an ang pow of RM50,000. This was to help them rebuff Anwar's attempts, initially through Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan, who was quite successful in getting the MPs on his aide. Azmin Ali, who took over from Jeffrey at the express instruction of Anwar, turned the MPs against him.

The cycle has now turned full circle with the July 31 seminar as a curtain raiser to the first official Malaysia Day on Sept 16 this year. This will be the run-up to the 50th year of the Malaysian Federation on Sept 16, 2013.
The debate for the July 31 seminar is whether the Gordian Knot should be cut before or after the next general election. The five-year term of the current Malaysian Parliament runs out in 2013.

Source: SK