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I HAVE often said that Sabah’s greatest problems are the many [not all] self-seeking Sabahan politicians. From day 1 of MA63, they fought each other and have never ceased fighting to this day. Had they truly fought for Sabah, we would be rich today. Sadly, these fights were seldom for “Sabah for Sabahans”. They were for self-interest, greed for power, for their pockets. All at the expense of Sabahans for the last 3 generations.

Reflective of this highly undesirable situation in the past 65 years, Sabah has been plagued by 6 distinct political regimes, which saw a total of 16 Chief Minister appointments held by 15 individuals [Tun Fuad Stephens served two non-consecutive terms].

Sabah has the unenviable distinction of having the greatest number of governments and Chief Ministers. Frequent change of governments and CMs have caused disastrous economic consequences. 

The consequences of these ceaseless fights for power, intertwined with corruption and cronyism, have devasted the economy, economic ownership handed over to Malayans and Sarawakians. Sabah has suffered greatly from policies of inconsistency and worst of all, the practice of “rob while I am in power” syndrome.

They became pawns to the political exploitations by Malaya leaders. Too many Sabah politicians played right into the hand of the Federal leaders. They have become the “goody-goody boys” of Malayan political leaders, compliant and subservient. In short, they have become their “obedient servants”. 

This may be harsh but, for most of the last 65 years, accurate assessment. The political manoeuvring orchestrated from the Malayan politicians wasn’t merely about consolidating power for its own sake; it was a deliberate economic strategy designed to feed the centre at the expense of resource rich states like Sabah. 

By keeping Sabah politically fragmented and its leaders dependent on federal patronage, Putrajaya ensured it could extract wealth and control regional development without facing unified resistance.

It needs to be recognized that this very lopsided Sabah/Federal relationship has begun to rebalance substantially with Hajiji as CM. 

CONSEQENCES OF NEVER-ENDING FIGHTING AMONG SABAHAN POLITICIANS. 

Here are some of the significant losses that Sabah has suffered.

[1] Federal Intervention: Years of political fragmentations and fights among Sabah leaders have allowed federal leaders to act as kingmakers. Who to be CM was decided by Putrajaya. Sabahans had no say. By capitalizing on local political crises or internal divisions, federal powers could strategically support or install administrations that were more compliant with Putrajaya’s directives. Most obvious was during Tun M’s rotation of CMs every 2 years.

[2] Resource Centralization: The passing of the Petroleum Development Act of 1974 fundamentally shifted the economic balance of power. It transferred the control of immense regional oil and gas wealth of Sabah to the federal government, often leaving local infrastructure and industrial development underfunded compared to Malaya.

[3] Erosion of Autonomy: Over the decades, administrative control over critical sectors—from infrastructure and logistics to health and education—was increasingly concentrated federally. Most damagingly, this structural shift often reduced Sabah leaders to administrators of federal policy rather than independent architects of their own state’s future.

[4] Deprivation of Federal Development Fund. Most obvious are the critical areas of infrastructures; bad and insufficient federal roads, poorly maintained schools, hospitals and airports which are critical for Sabah. 3rd class treatment given to Sabah with renovation for KKIA was only RM400 million and PIA [Penang] was given more than RM1.5 billion. This is blatantly unfair. Sabah is the adopted son while Penang, the favourite first born! 

The Federal Government has invested trillions of RM into KL and the Klang Valley states right down to Johor. THEY LIVE IN THE FIRST WORLD, SABAHANS IN 3RD WORLD.

[5] No Representations in Critical Institutions for Sabah. Sabah is 1/3 of Malaysia. We are not even 1/13 representations in these institutions! Sabah does not have any say in the compilation of budget, fiscal and monetary policies, important federal GLCs and institutions, given little attention in the development of industry. No federal GLCs, which have an estimated RM1.8 trillion assets, have made substantial investment in Sabah. 

FELDA, which has Malaysia’s largest single oil palm plantation in Sabah, has little downstream or employment for Sabahans.

While Sabahan politicians have been fighting with each other for 65 years, outsiders have been laughing all their way to the bank. Sabahans have been economic refugees in the midst of oil and gas and unimaginable resources. To outsiders, many Sabahan politicians are “easy meat”, can be bought easily. 

HAJIJI HAS SUCCEEDED TO REGAIN RIGHTS BACK FROM FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Using his non-confrontational, quiet diplomacy, Hajiji’s has won back some substantial rights.

Gains by Hajiji can be lost at any time when Sabah politicians can’t stop fighting.

To consolidate Hajiji’s achievements and to continue his fight for Sabah’s equity, all Sabahan politicians must unite to form a solid non-partisan pack. 

Without this non-partisan unity, Sabah cannot regain what has been lost and what has been deprived of.

IN SABAH/FEDERAL RELATIONSHIP, SABAH POLITICIANS MUST RISE ABOVE DIVISIVE POLITICS FOR THE SAKE OF SABAH’S FUTURE GENERATIONS.

After 65 years of conceding to the Federal Government, the fight to reassert Sabah’s rights and rightful place in Malaysia will be a very long, tough one.

It takes NO intelligence that Sabahan politicians must unite to regain 40%, TSA 2012 and many other equitable rights from the Federal Government. It is a no brainer that the Malayan leaders have been mucking around with Sabahan political leaders for the past 65 years. 40% is the prime example.

The stark reality is that Sabah has only 25 MPs. This number by itself is already relatively inconsequential. Sabah has only 11% of the total MPs of 222. Even united, the task of getting heard is not easy. If our MPs cannot unite, they are just shouting into the wind in Parliament.

Non-partisan unity is not just a moral ideal; it is Sabah’s only effective counterweight to Putrajaya’s stubborn resistance to give Sabah’s due.

The “interim grant of RM1.5 billion from Anwar is good but not good enough. it is still far from Masidi’s estimate. The inland revenue and customs collections in Sabah for 2025 alone totalled RM7.547 billion. This means the 40% yield for just those two tax streams is RM3.019 billion. 

The current RM1.5 billion interim payout represents barely half of what is currently visible, completely ignoring petroleum duties and the unfulfilled “Lost Years” [1974–2021]. Not taking into account is the income tax paid in Malaya by Malaya based companies in Sabah, especially those in oil palm.

Make no mistake! Malayan leaders will not yield to moral arguments or historical grievances. They understand political leverage and strength only. Therefore, all Sabah MPs and YBs must operate as a single, disciplined non-partisan political block. Then they will hold substantial balance of power in federal politics in the present political context of Malaya. If they continue divided, they remain supplicants waiting for crumbs from the federal table. 

BRAIN NOT BRAWN TO FIGHT FOR SABAH.

Sabahan political leaders must appreciate the deeply entrenched economic and political interest of Malayan politicians and businessmen when fighting for Sabah’s equitable rights. This is a deadly minefield. Only a very few Sabahan politicians have the tenacity/intellect to steer through it. 

For sure shallow megaphone politicians are more damaging than useful to Sabah’s cause. “Megaphone politicians” tend to rely on broad, emotionally charged slogans that oversimplify complex economic, political and administrative challenges.

Beside non-partisan support and to succeed, Sabahan leaders must have cool heads with a strategic mindset, ability to practice quiet diplomacy with a firm composure. Pragmatism is key. Above all, they must have integrity to command deep respect from Malayan leaders and the trust of Sabahans.

This is high stake. Success or failure will greatly affect the existential well being or otherwise of all Sabahans. 

NOW IS THE BEST TIME EVER WHILE MALAYAN POLITICIANS FIGHT.

Best time to unite as a non-partisan block for maximum leverage. This window will not last forever.

Hajiji has already succeeded in regaining a number of rights for Sabah from the Federal Government. Hajiji has also rolled back federal encroachments like the Single Border Control. Quite confidently, more is in the pipeline. 

Hajiji has started the ball rolling. With non-partisan unity, more can be regained.

Also importantly is that Hajiji has restructured Sabah’s economy and revamped some important GLCs. With these, Sabah can take advantage of regaining more rights back from the Federal Government. 

ECoS is the living proof that it can do much better for Sabah than the Malaysian Power Generation Commission. 

25 MP, united with 1 purpose to safeguard Sabah’s interest can be quite effective. Working with Sarawak’s 31 MPs, then the Borneo block can command substantial respect. 

Why? Because the political fragmentation in Malaya has reached a high point of chaos. No single party can command a majority in Parliament. Not now and most unlikely not after the next GE, which can be expected anytime. 

Opportune time for Sabahan politicians to fight for our equity rights back is NOW.

The views expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Express. If you have something to share, write to us at: Forum@dailyexpress.com.my