Sabahans and Sarawakians are now at the crossroads of whether to continue supporting the current Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak, or not in view of the multiple criticisms, attacks and commentaries made against him recently on several notable issues both within his party and externally.

Najib had been given all the time, opportunity, resources and authority to show that he understood the special privileges and status held by Sabah and Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia but sadly he squandered all these chances and opportunities.

It is worth pointing out that Najib agreed to the setting up of the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in Sabah but did the inquiry really tackle the root cause of the overwhelming presence of illegal immigrants and Projek IC holders in Sabah which are, among other things, the main cause of the dissatisfaction and frustration felt by Sabahans?

Sadly, two years after the inquiry had started and several months after its completion, we are still seeing illegal immigrants walking around in Sabah and we read in the local dailies news about foreigners with fake documents (either with fake travel pass or citizenship) being arrested and charged in court. And now, we have the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak questioning the sudden surge of Pakistan citizens in Sabah and this is after the RCI hd been completed.

So, did Najib as the prime minister and chairperson of BN really understand and act immediately to the pleas and demands by genuine Sabahans for better security?

I would also like to point out that Najib Razak had declared Sept 16 as a national public holiday for Malaysia so as to recognise Sabah’s and Sarawak’s role within the Federation of Malaysia.

But did Najib really understand what Sabahans and Sarawakians really wanted?

Declaring Sept 16 as a national holiday is a good start since this will enable all Malaysians to realise and acknowledge the importance played by both Sabah and Sarawak in the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, but the date itself should be the impetus for more good things with regard to the Putrajaya-Sabah/Sarawak relationship.

In relation to Sept 16, I had also asked the federal government in Parliament twice to elevate Sabah’s status by recognising one of its grandest festivals, the Harvest Festival, to a national holiday and not just a national festivity in view that there exist thousands of Sabahans in the peninsula.

Sabahans, especially the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) community had in fact supported the formation of Malaysia and despite the distrust during the mooting of the formation, the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut and many indegenious people of Sabah went ahead with the formation.

So a simple act of recognising and appreciating the KDM community by declaring a day of national public holiday for its grandest celebration should also have been done and as we approach the Harvest Festival again this May 2015, I urge the prime minister to declare Sabah’s Harvest Festival celebration as national public holiday.

Urging for review remains unheeded

However, I don't really see any more ‘good’ things coming after that. The urging for the review of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 remains unheeded and I believe it will remain so as to review it will unravel how Sabah and Sarawak had been denied what was supposed to be the Federation of Malaysia when it began on September 1963.

Some clear example of this are when ‘the National Integration Policy’ had taken over ‘Borneonisation’ to the extent that some of our judges have had to resign, the small number of Sabahans as federal civil servants and the oil royalty demand had been met with dilly-dallying and counter-offerings.

I have to stress here that even Sarawak’s chief minister is frustrated when the oil royalty’s increase from 5 percent to 20 percent remains elusive despite the Sarawak state assembly having passed a motion for increase.

Worst, decentralisation on several key aspects which inevitably would enable Sabah to progress at a much faster rate such as Education and Health has never been taken seriously by him, causing our state directors to continously beg for funding from the federal government.

Have we in Sabah been relegated to begging for what it deserves? Last year, the federal government reduced the allocation for annual maintenance and repair of all the federal roads in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan by RM260,000,000 more or less.

What does this say about it all?

And while Najib had visited Sabah and Sarawak numerous times to show that he still remembers both states, had he ever visited those schools in the interior that have been highlighted in the press or social media which lack proper buildings/study materials and are in a dilapidated/sorry state?

Did he really understand our predicaments?

Najib had been praised by many BN state leaders on the Pan-Borneo Highway which they said would provide greater mobility of people between Sabah and Sarawak but sadly, there is nothing to be proud out any more when the poor people in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak are now bound to pay tax to the government under the goods and services tax (GST).

Najib knows and understands perfectly well that for some unknown reasons, Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia, having low GDP per capita and facing a very high cost of living despite having massive natural resources and yet, he still insisted that all Sabahans be subjected to pay GST.

Did he ever really listen to the pleas by Sabahans on multiple issues ranging from security, financial, health, education and so on?

Could it be that all these issues are due to the mismanagement on the part of Sabah BN leaders themselves? But if the answer is yes, then Najib as the prime minister and head of Barisan Nasional should have acted immediately in finding the solution to the mismanagement in line with his famous slogan of ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’ and his Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

Still elusive about stand on hudud

He also remains elusive about his stand on the amendment of the hudud laws in Kelantan and to the private member’s bill that had been submitted by the president of PAS to Parliament and he seems to prefer to see the disintegration of the opposition pact, thereby making many infer that politics is at play albeit it was BN members such as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom who had enticed the implementation of the hudud laws.

I can only say now that Sabah BN including Sabah Umno will likely take the same stand as PKR and DAP in not supporting the private member’s bill on hudud, but after having allowed the prime minister to divide the nation when the prime minister as the caretaker of the federation has chosen to remain silent for the last two weeks .

He would seem to have played politics with religion, thereby further causing many misunderstandings between society of all faiths in Malaysia.

It is also strange and almost a paradox to firstly hear BN component presidents being so excited about an announcement by Najib sometime two weeks ago on his stance, but only to now defend the two-week silence by saying that BN has opposed hudud, hence, the PM need not be pressured to announce his stance.

Perhaps the time is apt for Sabahans and Sarawakians to come out strongly/lead on this matter and pressure Umno/BN so that both states interests are protected and that we get our inherent and legal rights as a partner in the Federation of Malaysia as is outlined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

With this I remind Sabahan and Sarawakian MPs that we Sabahans and Sarawakians from Borneo can revert back to what Sabah and Sarawak had long been denied of by taking a unified stance to demand for a new, fair and brave prime minister for all.

In fact with this new dynamics, we should demand for also the creation of the post of deputy prime minister representing Borneo.

DARELL LEIKING is national vice-president of PKR and member of Parliament for Penampang.