Misconception 1: That Semenanjung Courted Sabah and Sarawak into Malaysia
The first misconception that Sarawakians and Sabahans have about West Malaysia is that it was Semenanjung, or West Malaysia, that courted Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia.
This is a misconception, because it was the West — or more precisely, the former British Empire — that arranged the marriage between Semenanjung, Sabah and Sarawak, as well as Singapore at the time, under the aegis of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, in order to protect its interests and influence in its former colonies, and to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Communists, who were converting many newly independent nations to their ideological fold during the Cold War era.
Now, it is true that Semenanjung was attracted to the proposal — but so were Sabah and Sarawak — perhaps because at the time, we all thought that we will all be better off because of the union.
Of all three of us — or four of us, if we include Singapore, which was also part of the original Malaysia — it was Singapore that first decided it had more to lose than gain through the union, and left just two years later, in 1965.
Of the remaining three, Semenanjung has made peace with the relationship, but Sabah and Sarawak have over time, developed an aversion to it, likely because they feel that they have lost themselves in the relationship , and because they also suspect that we in Semenanjung have gained at their expense through the union.
Misconception 2: That West Malaysia Benefited from East Malaysia’s Wealth
Sabahans and Sarawakians often point out that grand monuments in Semenanjung, like the Twin Towers and the new capital in Putrajaya, were built using wealth extracted from Sabah and Sarawak.
To this, I will just say that this suspicion that we here in Semenanjung have benefited from their loss is the second misconception, because the vast majority of the population in Semenanjung were not the beneficiaries of that extracted wealth.
Most of us, like me, have nothing to do with the Twin Towers or Putrajaya. If you pluck the twin towers and Putrajaya from Semenanjung and plant them in Sabah and Sarawak, it would not make any difference to our lives at all.
The cold hard truth is that there are likely only a small group of elites who benefited from the extraction of wealth from East Malaysia — and not all of them are from Semenanjung. If you want to look for those who enriched themselves at your expense, do not just look for them on our shores — look for them in your own backyard too.
To the least, do not direct your disdain at the regular folks in Semenanjung – the nurses and teacher and soldiers and grocer – who did not have your oil and gas or timber wealth enter our pockets.
Misconception 3: That West Malaysians Built Their Happiness on the back of East Malaysia’s unhappiness
The third misconception that Sabahans and Sarawakians might have about us in Semenanjung is that they believe we have made ourselves happy and successful by taking away their happiness and success.
This is a misconception because no one is happy in Malaysia.
Neither the Chinese, nor Malays, nor Indians are happy in West Malaysia, nor are the Sabahans and Sarawakians in the East.
Now, personally, I understand that when everyone is unhappy, we have to do something to relieve ourselves from our unhappiness.
In Semenanjung, the Chinese, Indians, and Malays are blaming and belittling each other, with the hope that if the other races change, things will change for the better, while in East Malaysia, Sabahans and Sarawakians are contemplating leaving the Federation to turn things around.
I think this is a normal and fair reaction to unhappiness — when we are unhappy, of course we should contemplate change, to turn things around. The greater the unhappiness, the greater should be the change that we contemplate.
That the races in West Malaysia are blaming each other endlessly while Sabahans and Sarawakians are resolving with greater and greater strength to leave the federation is a sign of just how unhappy we all are — for we do seem to be contemplating very drastic measures to relieve our unhappiness.
What we must guard against, however, is slipping into a kind of psychosis, where we start imagining that everybody else is happy simply because we are unhappy, and then use that point of view to entertain the suspicion that they have made themselves happy at our expense.
It is not healthy, because when we suspect and blame another person for causing our unhappiness, when they themselves are also intensely unhappy, we will only end up dragging each other down into deeper and deeper state of unhappiness and misery.
Rather than do that, we should try to see others as being just as unhappy as we are, and treat them the way we ourselves would like to be treated.
Conclusion : On Happiness, Separation, and Letting Go with Grace
Now, I understand that after being together for a long time — Sabah, Sarawak, and Semenanjung have been together for 62 long years — it might not be easy to leave.
I also understand that to leave a long standing relationship, one might need to rouse an intense dislike for the other before one can find the strength to step away.
In other words, I think that it is possible that Sabahans and Sarawakians are nurturing an intense grievance against us in Semenanjung, to grant themselves the strength to walk away from our relationship.
All I have to say to that is that maybe it is not such a great idea to do that.
Rather than hate us by pointing out our flaws relentlessly and blaming us for gaining at your expense in order to find the strength to break our relationship, perhaps it would be better to simply acknowledge that we are all unhappy, and allow each other to go our separate ways consensually, to find on our own the happiness that we could not find together.
We had 62 years together, after all.
It might have been , like how Works Minister and Kapit MP Alexander Nanta Linggit said recently, a star-crossed relationship from the very beginning, but 62 years is still a long time.
If it is fated that this union must dissolve, let us not leave it behind with bitterness and regret — instead, let us leave it with goodwill and charity.
We might not have been enough for each other, but we did spend a long time trying to be enough for each other.
Rather than walk away from each other angrily by saying that we have done each other wrong, let us simply let go of each other by wishing each other the best — that on our own, we will both find the happiness that we could not find together.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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