LETTER | The recently concluded Sabah state election has driven home the point that Sabahans want to be rulers of their own state.

All these decades of disappointment and exploitation have awakened and inspired the voters to rely more on their own political power and resources.

For quite some time, the 1963 Malaysia Agreement has been in the news, and it has been dissected, discussed, and debated by the government and the opposition.

This has brought about an awakening among the people who feel they have been exploited and have gotten back little in return, despite their bountiful resources, from the federal government.

The intransigence of the previous federal governments to give what rightly belongs to the Sabahans and Sarawakians has only fuelled anger.

This explains the heightened state nationalism among Sabahans, which saw West Malaysian political parties being shown the exit. DAP, which has been fishing in the troubled waters in Sabah, has succumbed to an unceremonious end.

This new feeling among the voters should stay for a long time and could also reflect in the next general election, which will be held in about two years.

These same sentiments pervade the Sarawakians, who, under Premier Abang Johari Openg, have begun to steer clear of federal control and are doing what is needed for Sarawakians.

For decades, East Malaysians had allowed peninsula politicians and businesspersons to exploit their valuable resources, but got back little in return.

This is evidenced by the still prevailing poverty in the two states, which have not seen the type of development and prosperity as seen in the West Coast states of the peninsula.

For decades, this economic exploitation, with the connivance of both local leaders as well as peninsula politicians and businesspersons, continued unabated, and Sabahans and Sarawakians looked on helplessly.

For example, when the Bakun Dam was completed, the federal government intended to export electricity through undersea cables to West Malaysia.

It never crossed the mind of the leaders that hydro-electric power can generate development of heavy industries, SMEs and commerce to help the people of Sarawak. This is a good illustration of the exploitation that existed.

Timber, petroleum and gas resources, as well as the clearing of vast areas for oil palm cultivation, were undertaken and controlled by peninsula firms.

It was former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak who partially ended this exploitative relationship when he budgeted for large investments for infrastructural development in the two states.

Malaysia Day was declared a national public holiday, a gesture no previous leaders had made to bring West and East Malaysians to celebrate the union in 1963.

Presently, the political situation is very much in favour of the East Malaysians as the federal government is totally reliant on the support of the Sabah and Sarawak parties.

This is a good bargaining position and has resulted in the federal government finally agreeing to Sabah’s constitutional right to 40 percent of federal revenue.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has magnanimously decided not to appeal against the High Court order but prefers negotiations instead.

Sabah has gone through various crises since joining Malaysia: The Double Six tragedy in 1976, the advent of PBS and how it was decimated by defections triggered by BN, and the large number of identity cards issued to many non-locals to reduce the demographic domination of native Christians.

There is also the total exploitation of timber and other resources by federal government-backed tycoons, the grabbing of customary native land, and the various corruption scandals which persist to this day.

In fact, many of the winners in the recent state elections have been implicated in the ongoing mining corruption scandal.

Now that Sabahans have voted to be free from the control of others, one hopes that a new era will unfold with clean politicians and competent leaders coming to the fore in the state administration, and help the long-suffering, neglected Sabahans.

The election victory of GRS and Warisan should bring unity and a new, fruitful relationship with the federal government that will fully benefit the people of Sabah, unlike before.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.