The Moment Of Reckoning Between East Malaysia And West Malaysia Is Nigh

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According to deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof, Sabah and Sarawak is not going to get 35 percent of the parliament seats until GE16 is done with because it is going to take a lot of time to work out the details before Sabah and Sarawak are given the 35 percent of parliament seats.
I think Fadillah’s excuse is strictly for the birds. GE16 is likely only going to be held in 2027. The government has been working on giving Sabah and Sarawak 35 percent of the seats for more than 2 years now. Considering that the government will have more than 4 years to give Sabah and Sarawak 35 percent of the parliament’s seats, it beggars belief that the government does not have enough time to get Sabah and Sarawak what they want before the next general election is called.
Rather than not having enough time, the reason that Putrajaya is refusing to give Sabah and Sarawak what it wants for at least 2 more years to come, is likely because it doesn’t want to give it. This is not surprising. It doesn’t take a genius to see that it is unlikely that Putrajaya will be giving Sabah and Sarawak what it wants, until the state government of Sabah and Sarawak is controlled by the same parties that control Putrajaya. I myself have been saying it multiple times.
So will Fadillah’s announcement have any effect on the relationship between East Malaysia and Putrajaya?
The answer, in my view, is most definitely a yes.
The very fact that that the Communication minister Fahmi Fadzil had to say that Sarawak and Putrajaya has an excellent relationship, right after Fadillah said that Putrajaya is not going to give Sarawak what it wants for years to come, is itself proof that Kuching and Putrajaya’s relationship is exactly the opposite of what Fahmi is claiming.
You don’t have to tell anyone that there is no problem in your relationship if there is no problem in your relationship.
You only have to tell everyone that there is no problem in your relationship when there is a big problem in your relationship.
The fact that he said that ” good relationship must be protected from any negative elements that could sow seeds of division,” and the fact that he urged the public not to be influenced by irresponsible parties trying to provoke tension on social media between Sarawak and the federal government, is also a sign of how Putrajaya is going to gaslight Sarawak into accepting the fact that it is not going to get what it wants.
It is going to gaslight Sarawak by saying that if Sarawak is angry with Putrajaya for not giving it what it wants, it is not because it is Putrajaya that has done anything to upset Sarawak – instead, it is Sarawak itself that is to be blamed for letting “irresponsible parties”, influence it and cause its relationship with Putrajaya to sour.
Anyway, I think that it is all well and good that Sarawak and Putrajaya have reached this impasse in the matter of the 35 percent agenda.
I think it is good because how long are we going to pretend that everything is fine between West and East Malaysia?
According to Fahmi, East Malaysia’s and Semenanjung’s relationship couldn’t be better.
“This close relationship is clearly evident through the warmth and understanding between the premier of Sarawak (Abang Johari Openg) and the prime minister ( Anwar Ibrahim),” Fahmi recently said.
I don’t know who the government is trying to fool with statements like this – Itself or everybody else or both – but I am quite sure that Anwar’s relationship with Abang Jo is about as close and warm as Putin’s relationship with Zelensky.
Either way, I think it is time that we stop acting like an ostrich and keep burying our heads in the sand and pretend like nothing’s wrong every time we see a problem between East and West Malaysia cropping up.
Rather than suppressing our actual sentiments, so that we can fool ourselves into believing that everything is ok between us, just to maintain a meaningless peace, maybe it is better to take the bull by the horn, own up to the truth no matter how ugly it is, and try to seek a meaningful resolution to our problem even if we have to take some risk in order to do it.
Anyway , with the announcement of the delay by Fadillah today, I imagine that the moment of reckoning between East Malaysia and West Malaysia is surely at hand.
Regardless of how Fahmi is trying to play it, Putrajaya’s refusal to give Sabah and Sarawak what it wants for the next few years has revealed the troubled state of relationship between Putrajaya and Sarawak.
Now that it has been revealed, there is nothing left for Sarawak and Putrajaya to do other than own up to their troubled state of relationship, come hell or highwater.
Nehru Sathiamoorthy
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