Back to the Future. Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya?

To win the 13th general election you must have the Malays on your side, big time.  UMNO thinks they have that and for the time being they might just be right. For Pakatan Rakyat it is still a work in progress but the prognosis is grim.

And you must have Sabah and Sarawak on side too. They saved Barisan Nasional from defeat in the 12th general election and they are not going to let Barisan Nasional forget that! No Sir they will not! Taib Mahmud has already had more then his pound of flesh and still wants more!

It looks like what Sabah and Sarawak wants, Sabah and Sarawak will get before or after this 13th general election! They have already got hold of Najib by his balls. When they already got Najib by his balls, Najib's heart and mind will follow and Najib will do as they ask! And what are they asking? 

Methinks Sabah and Sarawak wants to be free of the hegemony and stifling arrogance of a Semenanjong based  Barisan Nasional government. They want autonomy. The autonomy that was promised in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. And why not? They know that the future of Sabah and Sarawak does not only depend on Malaysia!

Were not Sabah and Sarawak once two Nations that agreed with Singapore and Malaya to form Malaysia? From being a sovereign nation they are now relegated to be one of the many states under an UMNO led Barisan Nasional Federal government that rules from Putrajaya.

Sabah and Sarawak, like Singapore, wanted a partnership with Malaya. What sort of a partnership do they now have? The sort of partnership that Kelantan, Penang, Kedah and Selangor have with this UMNO led Barisan Nasional government.

A master servant relationship with UMNO being the self appointed master! 

Just as Kelantan has been deprived of their Oil Royalty rights so has the East Malaysian been deprived of their fair share to their oil, gas and natural resources.

Decisions on federal funding for infrastructure and development, policies implementation and even matters in sports are made in Putrajaya without regard for the real needs of the East Malaysians. 

The East Malaysians have looked with increasing concern at the use of race and religion by UMNO to divide and rule the people in Semenanjung. Sabah itself have seen a massive influx of pendatangs which they, in no small measure, attribute to the robust work done by Anwar Ibrahim while he was with UMNO.

Race and religion has never been a divisive issue in East Malaysia. Multi racialism and multi religion is alive and thriving in East Malaysia. All this is now at risk as the politics of hate and extremism that UMNO uses to divide and rule in Semenanjung increasingly encroaches into Sabah and Sarawak.

Like the people in Semenanjung the East Malaysians are now saying enough! The results of the 12th general have given them the moral authority to demand for their right to decide on their own political future. The changing political landscape there now reflects this new reality.

All you guys on the ground can come up with your analysis of the political situation in East Malaysia but the truth will always remain the truth. Like the people in Semenanjung the people in East Malaysia know when they are being lied to, when they are bring taken for a ride and when to demand change. This 13th general election is show time! No more bullshit. You lie. You die...politically that is - though in China they do shoot corrupt government officials. Maybe we should consider that options!

There are 165 seats in West Malaysia.

East Malaysia has 56

• 31 seats in Sarawak.
• 25 in Sabah.

Common sense tells us that going by the result of the last general election, the margin for victory for BN or PR in this 13th general election will be thin and a hung parliament is a distinct possibility. Whatever happens, East Malaysia will decide who will form government. And they know this!

Timber concessions, government contracts and all other things that UMNO can promise are but just inducements for ordinary mortals to consider.  At most the number of ordinary mortals to whom these inducements can be offered to are but a handful - less then 1% of the population of Sabah and Sarawak. The other 99% survive without ever being offered any such inducements.

Is UMNO arrogant enough to think that whatever they offer to this 1% will be enough to win East Malaysian over?  Or does UMNO think that in ëtaking careí of Taib Mahmud, Musa Aman and their band of merry men they have done enough to ensure victory?

All you people in East Malaysia please do not let UMNO do to you what UMNO have done to the Malays here in semenanjung. Your leaders are already in bed with UMNO in as far as money politics is concern. Thank God that there are enough of you with the courage to do what you must to expose your leaders for what they are ñ thieves and robbers that plunder and pillage their own peopleís and their own countryís natural resources to amass insane and immense wealth with the complicity of UMNO. We too in West Malaysia are doing that but what we do will never be enough until we get this UMNO led Barisan Nasional government out of power!  
 
The stench of fear and defeat permeates Najib and his people in Putrajaya. Najib works hard to save himself from being thrown out of office but against 55 years of abuse, he has much to do.  All that he needs ñ money, resources and the political will to succeed, he has. And the thought of spending time in Sungai Buloh for a multitude of sins he and his cohorts have committed during their time in office does invoke a sense of desperation and kicks their survival instincts into over drive.

What deals they will do with Taib Mahmud and Musa Aman and the others politicians in East Malaysia is for them to know and for us to find out. It is only we the people that now stand between wholesale corrupt horse-trading between those who are now in power and those who want to stay in power and between those who can deliver power with those who want to stay and gain power. In short anything goes!

For our friends in East Malaysia I say this. If you want greater autonomy from Putrajaya, ask for it through the ballot box. If you want to go Singapore way I say why not?
We in Malaya are already in a state of flux. Where we go will depend on how our people vote at the 13th general elections. If I could I would want all exit points of departure out of Malaysia closed on the eve of the general elections so that there will not be an exodus of politicians leaving the country to save themselves from prosecution should Barisan Nasional lose. And these exit points should remain close until a new government is installed and the BN thieves and robbers are rounded up and taken into custody for their day in court. 

That is if Barisan Nasional loses  -  and it is a very big if! As I have said in an earlier posting, if there is anything that can be said of the 13th general election it is its unpredictability. Win or lose, East or West Malaysian, Malays or non-Malays, Muslims or Infidels, rich or poor, BN or PR, me or you - everything will change after this 13th general election. And this alone is enough to give us hope that change has already come our way.