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Separating Borneo from Malaya... Posted: 16 Jun 2013 09:29 PM PDT The appointment of 21 ministers and deputies from Sabah and Sarawak to the Federal Cabinet was an apparent recognition to their contribution for 'keeping' Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya. Yes, they are part of the determining factor. However, some leaders and NGOs in Sabah and Sarawak are taking it too personal and perhaps a  little bit 'politically overstretched' by putting up new suggestion as to how the two States should be managed without direct engagement from Putrajaya. I can agree with some of the suggestions - for each kilometer of road built in 'Malaya', another km must be built in Sabah or Sarawak - but some do not really gel with our Malaysian concept, especially on proposal for all MPs from the States leave BN and form their own 'Borneo coalition'. Jeffrey, who's elder brother Joseph Pairin was booted out of office by the BN in 1994 and who has since rejoined his erstwhile enemies and been made deputy chief minister in the BN government, said BN's 47 MPs in the two states could all leave the coalition but they would still not be able to help the opposition form the government without the four MPs from MIC and one from Gerakan. However, he argued that "if the Sabah, Sarawak parties abandon BN without even joining Pakatan, there would be a change of the Umno/BN federal government. "This point is not lost when Ku Li did not pass up the opportunity to meet with the Sabah and Sarawak MPs who are not only kingmakers but also hold the trump card to change the PM. "That is the strength of Sabah and Sarawak in the current political equation in Malaysia," he added. Jeffrey also saw no necessity for Sabah, Sarawak MPs to be diplomatic let alone beg to be given ministerial positions. He urged Sabah and Sarawak to just lay the cards on the table and openly demand for their rightful positions in the federal Cabinet. He suggested that a  better option for the MPs from Sabah and Sarawak is to abandon BN and to be united as a Borneo coalition and to forge a genuine partnership with their counterparts from Malaya to form the Malaysian federal government and not be dictated by Umno or their Malayan counterparts. "There is no better alternative to a united Borneo alliance to safeguard the rights, autonomy and future of the Borneo States. (Only) then, the true spirit of the formation of Malaysia would be respected and the intentions of the founding fathers of Malaysia fulfilled," Jeffrey added. Accusation about 'Malayan intervention in politics of Borneo' is a blatant effort to make Sabahans and Sarawakians feel more regionalised in the sense that Malaysians from the Peninsula have got no role to play there. Disengaging themselves from Putrajaya - while having the comfort that those from Borneo enjoy the privileges of being Malaysians - is not a healthy idea. While they still refer the Peninsula as 'Malaya', the slogans 'Sabah is for Sabahans' or 'Sarawak is for Sarawakians' are fast becoming an idiom of disintegration. More alarming is when their two NGOs interpret Sept 16, 1963 as the day Malaya re-colonised Sabah and Sarawak and not as Malaysia Day. "This is perhaps the reason why the whole world, and even Malayans, still sees Malaya as Malaysia, without seeing Sabah and Sarawak as important components of the federation," Jambun said. "But within Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are being referred to as the 12th and 13th states after the departure of Singapore which saw the definition of Federation in the Constitution being amended to the disadvantages of the Borneo states. "We can then interpret that September 16, 1963 became the day that Malaya re-colonized Sabah and Sarawak. As such BOPIM-SSM tends to see this day more as 'Colonisation Day' instead of Malaysia Day." The two NGOs say they are fighting for sovereignty because it will bring immense benefits to both Sabah and Sarawak. They want Sabah and Sarawak to be accorded with more autonomy and sovereignty. In this context, the people of both States will formulate and regulate whatever they want to administer their Cabinet without and hands from Putrajaya. "We need to seriously re-look at the whole history and arrangement of the Malaysian federation. Firstly, we are of the position that there has not been a proper referendum conducted in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Malaya prior to the formation of Malaysia," the joint statement said. Jambun explained that the BOPIM-SSM stance is that because of the absence of a referendum, the Government in Putrajaya/Kuala Lumpur saw no compelling reason to fulfill the provisions of the Malaysia Agreement, and this had led to a lot of what is now seen as non-compliance. "We must be aware of the fact that the Cobbold Commission was not a referendum. It was merely a survey and this clearly was an open British and Malayan breach and transgression of the United Nation's Protocols on Decolonization." BOPIM and SSM also asserted that there is no 'Constitution of Malaysia' but a 'Federal Constitution' which is a modified version of the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya 1957.' "Now what we have is the codified Constitution of the Federation of Malaya being passed off as the Constitution of Malaysia, which leads to the implication that the Federation of Malaya as masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia. The level of askance they harbor toward 'Malaya', the people of the Peninsula and Putrajaya is demarcating the whole nation and reflects the policy of seclude inherent by some of its politicians, whose motive is still unclear. Demanding for more development and more allocation from 'Malaya' is fine but discarding our national interest will be disastrous for all, unless these leaders and NGOs already have special agendas, including to break away. This is another incubus, just like Kiram & family who went back a few hundred years to assert their claims on Sabah when international boundaries were set and agreed upon. Such claims (remember how Saddam Hussein claimed Kuwait as his territory in early 1990?) will only lead to confrontation and conflict. I am not sure what is their agenda but I see it as 'at one's wits' end' propaganda...

Our fortunate bloggers... Posted: 16 Jun 2013 07:05 AM PDT Vietnam has detained three bloggers in weeks, one of whom is now in jail, for 'abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interest of the State (and) the legitimate rights and interest of organisations and/or citizens'. The first arrest came last month when the Ministry of Public Security (or Home Ministry in Malaysia) arrested retired journalist Truong Duy Nhat, 49, in the central city of Da Nang, also on a similar charge. Two days ago, Pham Viet Dao, 61, from north-central province of Nghe An and a Hanoi resident was nabbed for violating Article 250 of the Penal Code. And today, a third blogger was arrested. A Vietnamese blogger has been arrested for anti-state activity, reports said Sunday, the third online government critic detained in less than a month in an intensifying crackdown on dissent. Dinh Nhat Uy, 30, was taken into custody Saturday and will be held for three months while he is investigated on suspicion of "abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the State", the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) said. The charge -- routinely laid against dissidents in authoritarian Vietnam where the ruling Communist Party forbids all political debate -- carries a maximum seven year jail term. Uy is the brother of computer technician Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25, who was jailed for eight years at a trial in May together with university student Nguyen Phuong Uyen on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda, the VNA report said Sunday. Investigators have accused Uy of "posting pictures and articles on his personal blog, distorting the truth and badly influencing the prestige of state organisations", the report added. Uy was known in Vietnam's underground activist circles for his strong opposition to perceived aggression by China in the disputed South China Sea -- known in Vietnam as the East Sea. Its not the case for us in Malaysia. The government has been so 'giving and forgiving' when it comes to such blogs, and there is no intention whatsoever to introduce a perceptible law on owners of social media. We read and see 'colorful' contents on the Internet every day, some good and not few are bad, deceiving and full of slanders. If the government wants to put a gag on FB, Tweeters, blogs and news portals, it has all the ways and means but of course, that is not democratic. However, some social media operators have gone overboard by posting subversive and slanderous articles and inciting inter-racial hatred among the people. There is a lot of freedom in the country but there is also a limit to everything. Absolute freedom will plunge our multiracial and multi-religious country into chaos if such practice goes unchecked.

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