Sabah for Sabahans: The pain and pride behind the state’s call for rights and respect

Sabah for Sabahans: The pain and pride behind the state’s call for rights and respect



Sabah politics has evolved significantly from the national BN and Umno influence. — Picture by Julia Chan

Monday, 13 Oct 2025 7:00 AM MYT


KOTA KINABALU, Oct 13 — There’s a local Sabahan saying going around lately that is both humourous and painful.

“Kana picit balabak” means to have your testicles or groin pinched, much like the childish bullying meant to cause pain and humiliation.

The simple yet loaded phrase describes the feeling of being bullied or subdued into submission.

It’s an image that captures, perhaps more vividly than any political slogan, how helpless many Sabahans feel about their state’s relationship with the federal government.


To them, it is not just about economic disparity or political marginalisation; it’s also about the sense of indignity that comes from being treated as lesser than equal — a vast state with resources from both land and sea, still begging for a fair share.

Whether reality or perception, Sabah rights has become the emotional and political shorthand for those seeking to address many of the state’s long standing woes, and the narrative for local leadership free from the grip of Peninsular politics.

Something to fight for

The sentiment isn’t new. Its roots trace back to the early days of Malaysia, when Sabah’s founding leaders such as Tun Fuad Stephens fought for the autonomy promised under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) – safeguards to protect Sabah’s native community against federalism.

But in today’s landscape, Sabah for Sabahans has taken on new meaning — it is less about nostalgia, and more about accountability. Sabahans feel they are lagging behind their West Malaysian counterparts in terms of development.

Sabah remains Malaysia’s second-poorest state, with chronic infrastructure gaps and persistent water, power and logistics woes.

Power blackouts, water shortages, potholed roads, lack of adequate healthcare and education facilities, lack of credible jobs, poor public transportation, absent teachers and higher cost of living are daily struggles that no longer make the news.

Federal leaders come to visit the stricken areas and announce millions of ringgit in funds to rectify the problems, but it rarely does.

So for some, Sabah for Sabahans now a call for leadership legitimacy: finding out who can truly represent Sabah’s interests without fear or favour, and who is merely borrowing the rhetoric for political gain.

What it means

Although “Sabah rights” is understood and defined differently, the broad desire is to let Sabah be in control of its resources, how to develop the state, how funds are dispersed and who gets to be in positions of power without influence from federal interests.

On paper, it is what is enshrined under the MA63, the document that was bounded the agreement to form Malaysia between United Kingdom, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo’s Sabah and Sarawak and Singapore.

Noting the differences between the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and Malaya, Sabah was given certain rights and privileges such as autonomy over areas of governance, especially those affecting land, immigration, and local government, a Yang di-Pertua Negeri or Governor, religion, language, finance and revenue taxes, education and health, Borneonisation of the civil service, and more.

However, over time, some these powers were centralised under the federal government.

Many believe that throughout history, federal leaders often treated Sabah as a “rubber stamp” making decisions for the state without consulting them.

Among Sabah’s demands now, perhaps one of the most hoped for is the return of 40 per cent of Federal tax revenue derived from the state as provided under Sections 112C and 112D of the Federal Constitution which has not been honoured since 1974.

This claim has been under negotiation by the state and federal government for a few years now with the backdated amount expected to go into multiple billions.

The state also claims rights over oil and gas, but this remains a major point of contention since the Petroleum Development Act 1974 transferred ownership to Petronas, giving the federal government control.

Many Sabah leaders argue this was never agreed to under MA63.

Seeking autonomy

Hardliners like Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan define the collective move as federalism or colonism and has for decades, led ongoing calls for decentralisation or returning rights to Sabah which has now evolved into mainstream narrative.

The positive is that with more leaders calling for autonomy, a number of rights were granted, more recently the regulatory authority over its energy sector, including power supply and renewable energy in January 2024. Licensing for deep sea fishing, certain tourism activities and over the Sipadan Ligitan islands were also returned under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s second administration.

The argument is that the state should not have to negotiate so hard for what is rightfully theirs — Sabah, Sarawak, and Malaya were to form Malaysia as equal partners — not as states within a federation dominated by Malaya.

When Malaysia was formed, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore made up one-third of the seats in Parliament. But when Singapore pulled out a year later, its seats were taken by Malaya instead of being given equally to the Borneo territories.

Currently, Sabah and Sarawak together have 56 out of the total of 222 seats in Parliament or 25 per cent.

The political aspect

As the election nears, every major political bloc — from the independent, to STAR, Warisan, GRS, BN and PH, all claim to embody the fight for Sabah rights but the spectrum and channel of its struggles varies.

Parties like Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku(STAR) and Sabah Progressive Party(SAPP), and Parti Warisan (Warisan) are looking to form a fully local government, claiming that anything less is difficult given that national interest does not always align with state interest.

Parti Bumi Kenyalang(PBK), a Sarawak-based party who recently launched a Sabah chapter, say their ultimate goal is secession for Sabah and Sarawak.

The incumbent state government Gabungan Rakyat Sabah(GRS), a coalition of seven local parties, believe it is better to work with the federal government of the day, having previously been part of Perikatan Nasional(PN), partnered up with Barisan Nasional(BN) and now with Pakatan Harapan(PH).

GRS believes in taking a more pragmatic, softer approach, believing that confrontational approach has not worked in the past, and places more value on political stability.

Meanwhile, the national BN coalition has a long term presence in the state going back to governing the state in 1994 up to 2018, managing to build up a loyal grassroot base mostly in the rural areas, but simultaneously creating complacency and frustration from the persistent gaps in infrastructure and governance.

It rejects the narrative of regional politics and trumpets bringing development and economic progress to the state.

Pakatan Harapan’s history in Sabah is mostly as the opposition but they have principally been supportive of Sabah rights although it struggles to break through to the native base outside of urban areas.

“But for decades, Sabah leaders, if they are part of the federal government, may have had their hands tied, beholden to the party, the benefit it brings and intimidation for control,” said Sabahan political analyst Tony Paridi Bagang.

In that time, Sabah politics has evolved significantly from the national BN and Umno influence.

“This push and pull factor has groomed state leaders to believe they must always look after and establish good relationship with their federal counterparts,” he said.

In “return”, the federal government “looks after” the state – funding for infrastructure, political purposes, defense, and more.

Most people, including the government of the day are likely to agree that the Sarawak model is the way to go.

The governing coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is a wholly local state government which has lent support to the federal unity government.

They are seen as strong enough to hold its own against federal pressure and with that leverage, comes demand power.

But GRS leaders sometimes say that Sabah does not have the fiscal standing to follow suit.

Critics deny this, arguing that they use it as an excuse because they are beholden by the money and corruption allegations.

Parties like STAR, SAPP and Warisan say that the dream to be like Sarawak cannot happen until Sabah is brave enough to stand on its own, and accuse the current government of hijacking the sentiment without delivering real autonomy.

This election, it remains to be seen whether Sabahans will this time turn the slogan into substance — or leave it as yet another campaign tagline.

***

I'm reminded of what my (late) FB matey, al Marhum Tunku Aziz once told me: 

"KT, if the Sabahans and Sarawakians want to leave (secede) Malaysia, let them go in peace for we have already done our best to keep them in Malaysia; don't force them to stay in Malaysia if their hearts don't want to."

Tunku was like his Kedahan relative, our beloved TAR, a kind compassionate and understanding man.

But at the same time I'm also reminded of what my Uncs informed me, that many Peninsula military men (and British Commonwealth men as well) had lost their lives defending Sabah and Sarawak during the Konfrontasi years.

Yet we must acknowledge that Sabah and Sarawak, in particular Sabah, have lost out in developments compared to Peninsula.