Kota Kinabalu: The British had no choice but turn to Filipino and Indonesian migrant labour when their plan to bring in 5,000 Indians to open up plantations in North Borneo (now Sabah) was blocked by then Legislative Councillor Donald (later Tun Fuad) Stephens.
“The proposal was put forward at the start of the 1950s, when the newly established British Crown Colony (since 1946 after taking over from Chartered Company rule) was struggling to find timber, plantation and construction workers for its ambitious plan to develop Sabah after World War II.
“The British wanted to expand the agriculture and timber industries and build up basic infrastructure, but faced a major obstacle as locals were simply unwilling to work in the forests and on the land,” said Datuk Mohd Fauzi Patel, Sabah’s first Reporter (in first local paper Sabah Times), in his posthumous memoirs “What Sabahans Should Know”.
The book contains both exclusive interviews with Daily Express Editor Datuk James Sarda and Universiti Malaya History Professor Datuk Dr Danny Wong on issues and controversies of the day and a compilation of popular selected articles that appeared in the Daily Express on Sundays.
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