Sabah and Sarawak Need Malayan States to Decentralise Malaysia At

Sabah and Sarawak need Malayan States to Decentralise Malaysia At WISDOM Foundation, we believe that Malaysia needs to be substantially decentralised to be a real federation and that can only be done with Sabah, Sarawak and Malayan states working together. Just like Sabah and Sarawak do not like to be treated as monolithically as East Malaysia without their own identity, Malayan states too should be recognised in their own right and not lumped together as Malaya. They certainly should not be treated as they are pawns of the Federal Government, even when they are ruled by the same parties. It is wrong to leave Malaysian states out of the negotiation table of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as it was under BN and PH, and now PN. We are now living in 2021, not 1963 when Sabah and Sarawak were negotiating with the Malayan Federal Government on formation of Malaysia. No matter how one views the formation of Malaysia as well as her achievements and shortcomings, the existence of Malaysia is a reality. It borders on fantasy to think that international intervention can change how the federation of Malaysia is organised, let alone breaking up Malaysia. Such fantasy ignores geopolitics internationally and realpolitik domestically. What we need today is a transformation of Malaysia, to be secular, decentralised, open and moderate. We need to move beyond a zero-sum game mentality – unfortunately most entrenched in the Peninsula Malaya but also spread to Borneo in past decades. No matter how difficult, we must seek a win-win deal that simultaneously enhances the interests of the dominant region/group and empowers those of the marginalised regions/groups. Bringing Malayan states to the table of negotiation on MA63 is not at all lowering the special position of Sabah and Sarawak to that of Malayan states. Sabah and Sarawak will remain special and above the Malayan states if all states get more power, resources and autonomy than what they currently enjoy. This is not at all conceding the rights of Sabah and Sarawak under MA63 as some would jump to accuse. This is to recognise the limitation of MA63 and to ask for more. And we cannot ask more if the Malayan states are left out and involuntarily represented by the Federal Government. In our endeavour to create a decentralised Malaysia, we must not mistake and mystify MA63 to be perfect. We must be bold to acknowledge its limitations, amongst others, these two glaring ones. First, Sabah and Sarawak were misled into an unfavourable deal than Singapore. With the gimmick of giving Sabah (16) and Sarawak (24) disproportionally more parliamentary seats than the more populous Singapore (15), Kuala Lumpur denied Sabah and Sarawak autonomy given to Singapore in education, health and labour. Any discussion on MA63 that overlooks this bad deal is incomplete to say the least. Second, there was no discussion of establishing an elected and competent Senate where non-Malayan states were explicitly guaranteed one-third of seats. In most federations, state rights are protected by a powerful and normally elected upper house. We at Wisdom Foundation hold that Malaysia’s federal system must be examined and renegotiated comprehensively with Malayan states present at the negotiation table without reducing the special status of Sabah and Sarawak as Malaya’s equal partners. To start East-West collaboration in decentralisation, Widsom Foundation is organising a webinar with Selangor MB YAB Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari and Penang CM YAB Chow Kon Yeow as panelists, chaired by me, to discuss the possibility of states sharing income tax revenues in a decentralised Malaysia. Sri Murniati, fellow of IDEAS, would present a paper jointly sponsored by WISDOM Foundation and IDEAS on sharing of income tax revenue in Indonesia by national and sub-national governments. Tricia Yeoh, CEO of IDEAS will join the panel discussion too. We welcome all Malaysians desiring a more decentralised and truer federation, whether from Sabah, Sarawak or Malaya, to join this meaningful conversation, which would be followed by more ground-breaking ones at Wisdom Foundation. DSP Wilfred Madius Tangau Executive Chairperson WISDOM Foundation .

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