Kota Kinabalu: Two books concerning events leading up to the formation of Malaysia will be unveiled this week, which will add to the body of material existing on the subject for researchers, students and those interested to know what happened along the way.
The first to be launched on Feb.12 and titled “Sabah’s Rocky Road to Malaysia” by Datuk Joe Samad explores Sabah’s tumultuous journey of hope, struggle and unfulfilled promises.
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According to Joe. it revolves around Sabah’s troubled journey from British colonial rule to its current position in Malaysia, documenting the injustices and broken promises that have shaped the State’s political and economic realities.
“Nearly all the narratives on Malaysia is from the Malayan perspectives, involving the three main races - Malay, Chinese and Indian.
“Writers like me offer a different and refreshing narratives of multi-religious, multi-cultural communities of Borneo, putting aside political identity and substituting it with a more homogenous community that respects and celebrates diversity,” he said.
Joe is noted for his other works which includes “Unequal Partners, Race, Religion, Domination and Inequality in East Malaysia” and “Revisiting the Social Contract, The Malaysia Borneo Perspectives.
He said the book aims to correct Malaysian history by documenting Sabah’s marginalised journey from British colonial rule to present-day Malaysia.
It exposes how Sabah was misled into forming Malaysia under dubious circumstances, suffered broken promises on revenue sharing and endured political manipulation through highly centralised Federal control that stunted its growth.
The book seeks to fill historical gaps ignored by mainstream Malayan-centric narratives, providing Borneo’s multi-cultural perspective based on factual events rather than race and religion.
Ultimately, it holds both federal and Sabah leaders accountable while preserving this untold story as a legacy for future generations.
The other book, to be launched on Feb 14, is “What Sabahans Should Know” based on the real-life recollections of the late Datuk Mohd Fauzi Patel, who was Sabah’s first reporter when he joined the Sabah Times in 1954.
The Sabah Times was Sabah’s first local newspaper set up by Tan Sri Yeh Pao Tze, Donald (later Tun Fud Stephens), Datuk GS Kler and Chong Pak Nam in 1952.
The book deals with the backgrounds of issues that confronted Sabah then and some of which seems difficult to resolve until today.
Compiled by Daily Express Chief Editor Datuk James Sarda and Datuk Dr Danny Wong, an expert on Sabah history at Universiti Malaya, the book includes extensive exclusive interviews with Patel as well as selected commentaries by the latter which are deemed classics and appeared in the Daily Express on Sundays.
Patel, who passed on in 2012, was an Indian immigrant who was nearly deported by Immigration from then British North Borneo for having no proper documents.
He was allowed to stay for three months and survived on free food and shelter at the Sikh temple in Tanjung Aru, until he landed a proof reader cum clerk job at Sabah Publishing House, which published the paper, thanks to its first Editor Stephens.
Patel took up the offer even though Stephens told him that the paper was not making money and he could only settle Patel’s food bill at the nearby restaurant.
The paper’s financial situation improved when it merged with the North Borneo News in the mid-1950s, by which time Patel also improved his command of English and became the paper’s and Colony’s first ever reporter.
All news items previously comprised Information Department materials on colonial administration announcements.
Hence, Patel had a ringside view of everything that happened from the time North Borneo transited to Sabah in Malaysia.
He later went on to become a correspondent for Straits Times and Reuters and also set up the Kinabalu Times for Tun Mustapha when he became third Chief Minister after the first State election.
The election was hurried by first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman when it appeared that the bitter rivalry between Stephens and Mustapha appeared irreconcilable.
Mustapha felt Usno also needed a paper catering exclusively for the party just like Sabah Times was for Upko as Yeh had by then sold his entire shares to Stephens and started Daily Express.
As Press Secretary to Berjaya CM Tan Sri Harris, Patel set up the Press and Publications Unit in the Chief Minister’s Department that functions until today.
James and Danny have also put out books on Sabah, including Spirit of Borneo on visit by famed Hollywood documentary filmmakers Martin and Osa Johnson.
James also assisted late Stephen Holly, the UnderSecretary to last Governor Sri William Goode to put out his memoirs on the reconstruction of North Borneo after the war until independence.
Holly was also briefly Sabah’s first State Secretary and was a signatory of the Malaysia Agreement by virtue of being the Secretary of the IGC.
The book it titled “White Headhunter of Borneo” as he was responsible for identifying the first batch of Sabah’s leaders for their roles post-independence.
