According to the State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Environment Masidi Manjun, the federal government policies are - cast in the MIC or Malay, Indian, Chinese mould.

Masdi said that policies, must be re-examined, or "the implications would be negative, to put it mildly".

He said that he has worked in Peninsular Malaysia and can see both sides of the equation without prejudice.

"A government policy can only work if it takes into consideration the needs of the people," stressed Masidi in off-the-cuff remarks delivered yesterday at the closing of a seminar, 'Malaysia's Government Policies', at the Sabah Federal Administrative Complex in Kota Kinabalu.

"Every angle on the ground must be taken into consideration before implementation."

Masidi's take on the East-West divide comes exactly a month after federal minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Maximus Jonity Ongkili, expressed deep misgivings with the ruling BN's oft-cited power-sharing formula in practice.

Reiterating the differences between both halves of Malaysia, separated by the South China Sea, Masidi alleged that many aspects are not taken into consideration by the federal government when extending its policies to East Malaysia.

Planning overlooked by planners

These include the need to re-adjust the quota system, the menace of illegal immigration, personal documentation problems, the sheer size of the constituencies in the two states, the state cabinet system versus the executive council system, and the greater level of religious and racial acceptance and tolerance in Sabah and Sarawak.

"Kinabatangan (parliamentary) alone in Sabah is as large as Pahang while Karanaan (state), my constituency, is almost as big as Malacca," pointed out Masidi.

"In fact, Sabah and Sarawak combined forms two-thirds of the land area of Malaysia."

In short, geography should be a key factor in federal government planning, especially when it involves infrastructure and security, but this aspect has been overlooked by the planners in PutraJaya.

He noted that the current federal allocation for Sabah comes to RM2.3 billion.

However, only RM558 million has been allocated so far for the state government which has to wrestle with 11 ministries and each with its own needs.

The RM558 million hardly covers administrative cots, related salaries, maintenance works on buildings and vehicles.

He was not talking about bigger allocations, he clarified "but not every angle has been taken into consideration in federal allocations".

No less important, according to Masidi, is the structure of the population in Sabah and Sarawak compared to Peninsular Malaysia.

"In Peninsular Malaysia, all bumiputera are presumed to be Muslims, notwithstanding the Orang Asli," noted Masidi.

"In Sabah and Sarawak, most Bumiputera are non-Muslim. Even the names are different. A Muslim could have a Christian-sounding name and vice versa. Above all, a family and extended families could be composed of many religious groups, Muslim and non-Muslim."

Immigration, mother of all failures

What is particularly heart-breaking in Sabah and Sarawak are policies which are meant to benefit only the Muslims and this "makes them and their non-Muslim relatives feel hurt and disappointed by the discrimination", continued Masidi, a Muslim Dusun from Ranau.

This also brings into irrelevance the quota system as practiced by the federal government nationwide.

Masidi does not understand why the federal government must stress, for example, the differences in race and religion in intakes into higher institutions of learning in the country.

This must not be made into a big deal, he pointed out, "since Sabah, like Sarawak, is so very different from the rest of the country."

"From this it's obvious that the federal government only takes into consideration the perspectives in Peninsular Malaysia," said Masidi and wonders how the larger non-Muslim bumiputera numbers in East Malaysia, in particular, can be excluded from the mainstream.

"Thus the impact on the people based on faulty perspectives has resulted in a negative image (of the federal government)."

At the same time, correcting the faulty federal perspectives on Sabah and Sarawak, is an uphill task because of the small numbers in the administration from the two states.

Masidi considers the continuing illegal immigrant menace in Sabah as the mother of all failures of the federal government.

This has resulted in the federal government acquiring a negative image, which is difficult to erase, unless a concerted effort is made to resolve the problem.

Local perspective not accounted

"The federal government is responsible for security and immigration from outside Malaysia and these responsibilities must be carried out," said Masidi while acknowledging the difficulties involved.

"At the same time, the local dimension in the problem must be taken into consideration by the federal government."

The illegal immigrant menace creates myriad social problems when the illegal immigrants marry naïve locals and have children.

This further compounds the social dimensions of the illegal immigration menace "which should have been nipped in the bud".

The resulting social problems created by illegal immigration, according to Masidi, has led to the locals renting their land and houses to foreigners and often even losing them altogether.

"The illegal immigrants are not here by invitation," stressed Masidi.

"People become angry when they see these illegal's doing even better than them."

He does not deny however that many foreigners, legal and illegal, are playing an important role in the economic development of Sabah.

"They are willing to stand in the hot sun and work for a pittance unlike our people," acknowledged Masidi in underlining the exploitative nature of the local wage structure which keeps pushing locals out of the workplace.

Masidi's remarks will come as sweet music to the ears of Sabah Peoples Progressive Party (SAPP) leaders who pulled out from the BN on Sept 17 last year.

They cited loss of confidence in the federal leadership and referred to a long list of local grievances.

Masidi is a senior member of Sabah Umno who is tipped to be the next chief minister.