Sabah, what is today the state of Sabah in Malaysia used to be a dominion of the Sultanate of Brunei until the British came and essentially split up that Sultanate, which remains till this day but the territory it controls is very small. At one stage it controlled vast parts of Borneo and parts of what is now the Philippines. A subsequent sultanate, the sultanate of Sulu, which still lays claim to Sabah, over which we?ve read a lot in news lately, because they sent a detachment of over 200 armed guards or militants to state that claim, currently claimed to have a power over this territory or parts of this territory and that claim has never really been resolved, so until this day the Malaysian state actually pays what some people call session money, what other people call rental money to the heirs of the sultan of Sulu, which was agreed a long time ago between the British and the sultan of Sulu. And so there is this ongoing discrepancy of histories if you like, the discrepancy of the heirs or decedents of the sultan of Sulu, the state of Sabah is still part of their inheritance if you like, although long time ago they?ve given up sovereignty to the Philippines state, so they are not a sovereign sultanate or sovereign state in any way, they can?t make claims, only the Philippines can make claims over Sabah, and they have tried to take it to the international court of justice but Malaysia would not entertain that for obvious reasons, Sabah is home to large oil reserves, forestry, palm oil and has been an integral part of the Malaysian state since 1960s and indeed it?s been instrumental in maintaining the current ruling coalition in Malaysian government since 1957 since the authorities of Sabah joined the federation in 60s because they?ve managed to get substantially more votes in east Malaysia than in west Malaysia and had east Malaysia voted similar to west Malaysia in the last election, we wouldn?t have seen a change in government already in Malaysia. So, the current government is quite dependant on both Sarawak and Sabah as a voting block.
Do ethnic differences play a serious role in the domestic policies?
It is a very difficult and complex issue and there is actually a big difference in terms of the ethnic question in west Malaysia and east Malaysia. In west Malaysia it is really about Indian, Chinese and Malay identity politics around that, whereas in east Malaysia it is quite different because there is a vast or much larger proportion of indigenous people and a lot of them are not Muslims so the issue of Islam does not arise as it does in west Malaysia and so especially Sabah has much more of a cosmopolitan history and ethic than, say, west Malaysia where identity politics that has been imbued with religious politics or the identity politics around religion is much more pronounced. So, in fact one of the biggest minorities in Sabah is Philippines and in a way the makeup of Sabah is much more diverse than the makeup of west Malaysia, that has a very different ethnic politics that happens over there.
What actually keeps this country together?
The politicians have been very good at building alliances. From the outset, from independence in 1957, the ruling government decided to use consociation rule, which meant that each of the major ethnic groups had a seat at the table, so the ruling coalition is made up of a Malay party, Chinese party and Indian party but they also included power brokers from the two eastern states ? Sabah and Sarawak, and also gave them a lot of concessions when they joined in 1963 in terms of maintaining some extra royalties, oil and forestry concessions and also in terms of immigration controls. So, even if you are Malaysian citizen from west Malaysia, if you travel to Sarawak, you have to show your passport and they can let you in or not let you in. So, they have some extra powers but the Malaysian state is relatively centralized and they?ve managed to keep all the states in check if you like through a very strong federal government and partly because the federal government has most of the pulling strings in their hand, so the states have to toe the line if they want to get even royalties from their own offshore oil, for instance. So, the federal state is very strong and remains very strong in Malaysia, which is partly why this episode in Sabah right now is quite strange and has a lot of people asking penetrating questions about what?s happening, how could just over 200 armed militants take over an area and retain it for weeks, how come the Malaysian government hasn?t sent troops much earlier and tried to get control over their sovereign area. So, there are the questions that have not been answered and in fact we haven?t actually heard a lot from what?s happening in those areas, there?s lots of internet postings and blog posts and the twitter is ablaze with speculations as it always is but we haven?t had a lot of concrete evidence and reporters on the ground giving us a better picture of what is going on. They have good relations which China and certainly in economic terms Malaysia is a major trading partner with China and because of a large group of Chinese within Malaysia who do a lot of business with China, they have very good relationships but I wouldn?t say they have a special relationship that was better than other countries within the region in general.
With a changing political environment in that region could the Chinese count on them as their allies?
If you are thinking around issues like the South China Sea, I wouldn?t think so, but I also wouldn?t think that they are an enemy of any kind. China has on occasion raised the issue of treatment of Chinese citizens within Malaysia but they have very cordial diplomatic relationships and obviously a very strong economic relationship that will impact how far either party will push a certain issue. One of the conspiracy theories that is currently doing the rounds is about the election, and there is an upcoming election and the prime minister Najib has to call an election very soon, he can?t call one before April 21st, and if he doesn?t, then the elections commission has to call one within 60 days and it is usual that the prime minister would call it earlier at a time when his approval ratings are high. Now, PM Najib?s approval ratings have been going down quite rapidly over the last couple of weeks, so he is unlikely to call it now. A standoff in Sabah could delay elections certainly in Sabah perhaps, maybe even in the entire country, it could show a force on his part, could reassert him, could give him a bounce back in the polls. I mean these are some of the questions being asked - why now? I mean these claims from the sultanate of Sulu have been there for a very long time and the timing does seem either suspicious or odd at least and raise questions especially because his poll showings are quite bad and the opposition has worked very hard since already shaking up the establishment in 2008 in the last election when they denied the ruling coalition a 2/3 majority, which it had enjoyed since independence, and a lot of observers expect the opposition if not to outright win, to cause another major shakeup in Malaysian politics at the next elections.
Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_12/Sabah-stand-off-shakes-up-Malaysian-politics/
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