AmDe Sidik

In the 80’s Sabah and Sarawak had their own Merchants Shipping Ordinance 1952 which empowered to give license to merchant’s ships. It was repealed, giving way for the Federal government to streamline the laws of the seas, but the people of Sabah and Sarawak as the consequence suffered. The Federal government policy is to assist the government of Malaysian shipping industry little connected to Sabah and Sarawak shipping industry.

In Malaya, their development concentration is mainly at Port Klang, all major towns are easily accessible by good roads and railways. The other 5 major ports is already a Federal Port, so there is really no concern about shipping. Industrialization strategies undertaken in the 70’s to the 90’s are consistent with this development.

Both leaders at the Federal and the State level are equally blamable. The leaders at the centre argued they are looking at the national interest, as far as they are concerned, the political backlash for them making the decision practically is nil. While at the State level keeping quiet for what I asked, have they pursued for the interest of the people?

When the States cannot say and have no say, the people are the losers, and industrialization handicapped due to mainly shipping cost factor.

Where and what sound good relationship between Federal and State leadership really is or a marriage for convenience or a relationship merely cloaking to a more sinister conspiracy to ensure the people in Sabah and Sarawak is subservient to the master in Malaya?

Since the shipping industry is equally influential for the State economy perhaps it is appropriate that next election to think hard before casting your vote, no more relying on instruction.

Freight charges and inland transport cost is the magic mantra, the government keeps on chanting to justify the Cabotage Policy. This shows the shallowness and myopic view on the government leadership rather than an acceptable excuse.

Malaya has 5 ports and all of them are categorized as Federal Ports. Sabah has 7 ports and none of them is categorized as Federal Port. A Federal Port permits foreign registered vessels to load and off load their cargos whilst a state port only allowed loading and offloading goods from Malaysian Registered Vessels. Malaya has good roads crisscrossing all over the place whilst Sabah has limited access and sub-standard roads.

This means if someone wants to import goods from Hong Kong, these goods have to go to Port Klang, as the country load centre and then transferred to a Malaysian Registered Vessels and sent back to Kota Kinabalu for consumers. Within Sabah itself, goods have to be transported to all major towns by ship rather than using inland transport.

The Minister has it wrong when he says inland transportation cost as one of the factor that increases the price of goods in Sabah. He must have confused the condition in Malaya is the same as in Sabah?

This is one major reason we have price difference between Malaya and Sabah. In economics this is called Purchasing Power Parity PPP. It also means that RM1.00 is valued as RM1.00 in Kuala Lumpur. In Kota Kinabalu RM1.00 probably have a value of RM0.70 cents.  This value may reduce further as we go to Keningau, Tenom and eventually Tilis.

I think the Minister responsible should start doing his own shopping. When he does, look at the printed Recommended Retails Price RRP of goods. It clearly printed on their boxes, wrapping or covers-one price for Peninsular Malaysia-Malaya and another price for East Malaysia-Sabah and Sarawak.

Our own leaders have been harping that their good relation to leaders in the centre contributes to the development in the state. Why then has the Cabotage policy drag on for more than 20 years and still no light at the end of the tunnel?

It’s the price determine our capacity and capability to bring about development?

I recall in the early days, Datuk Halik Zaman campaigned for a seat in Tenom with salt and ikan masin. It had a desired effect. I can’t remember if he won but he got a reasonable count. Not an insult but that’s the commodity they most wanted and appreciated.  It means one thing.

The rakyat don’t have that many opportunities then and today to better themselves despite the existence of Twin Tower and the Penang Bridge and the Malaysia Plans. But they also wanted to prove that the other candidate have totally been forgotten of what their basic needs are. They have minds of their own.

Now take a look and analyse a mega project that is very close to you, the upgrading of the State Railway since 2004. From the reports it was stated that the project costs is above RM 300 millions. Will the rakyat appreciate it when until now the track has remained like it was since 1950? What happened to the fund? Are the rakyats along the Padas Gorge getting any direct benefit? How many from here are employed in this project? The local daily had reported that the rakyat had to device a crude trolley to travel by paddling on the track as the project don’t seem to see any completion.

Life is still very hard to them when the promised uplifting of their economic life will be better with the improved railway. Unfortunately most of the fund have gone to the go between, the lobbyists, corrupts, suppliers, contractors and workers who are not from the gorge. What are they thinking now? Who belittle who?

The Padas Gorge commuters are seeing new stations with long platform as if there will be long trains coming, but they see is the same train that had hugged along since 1950 and they still remain poor. You think they never talk?

Very often we see project billboards that state ”Projek ini adalah sumbangan Kerajaan Persekutuan” Do we owe ourselves to the Federal Government? Don’t we have our resources to look after ourselves? Doesn’t this billboard belittle our intelligent

See what Pangait did?

By Amde Sidik

Keep political articles aside for a break for moment as there is nothing to do with my writing this time.

I would like to talk about the word pangait, I notice the spelling keeps on changing from pangait,panggait to even pengait, and perhaps soon it will change to Penangites- Penang people.

I would say the correct spelling is pangait.

First, the word pangait is very much Borneo’s word by the sound of it. Hear across the ethnics in this island it must be pangait not pengait. In Sabah people are not used to say é as much as people from the Peninsula.

How and who created the infamous word pangait God knows, I’ve no inkling.

All I knew of pangait in Malay, in as far as Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei are concerned pangait means hooky metal or wood- like instrument or even akin to parang.

People use it for harvesting palm oil seeds or coconuts or papayas, usually with long handle.

Unfortunately in Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei when we say pangait it also means something else which is always associated with someone chopping someone’s head. In other words, it’s the head, which is most significance than the body.

I also have no idea how pangaiting taking place all I know and I understand that pangait’s job is to kill and kidnap the victim. There is no clear indication as to whether the hooky instrument is ever used at all.

By the way, pangait-not the instrument but the person doing the killing, and usually isn’t originated locally. They were outsiders or might even foreigners.

In the Brunei Bay area typical pangait are known to be of Indian complexion-dark skinned people. Strange. They are hired by the authorities or even hired by the government of the day to chop citizens’ heads. The head is very valuable used as ritual, buried behind or under the bridge or under the buildings.

So the story goes occasionally whenever someone is missing in the neighbourhood that must be taken by pangait.

In the 60s I knew one an old lady disappeared in Sipitang and has never been found until today, people said the caused of her disappearance was by pangait.

Pangait believers believed when they are lots of bridges being built then the panggait would be rampant. Never walk alone in lonely place.

By burying human heads under the bridge would prolong the life span of the bridges or buildings.

I remember when I was a kid my dad was saying to me but I wasn’t sure whether it was only meant as joke or he wanted to frighten me. He once saw a few pangaits loitering in his 30 acres rubber plantation, one had dark complexion while the other two were very brown.

According to him he was very familiar with the plantation-after all his property if that pangaits were looking for him, he said had no problem in outwitting them. He was in fact watching the movement of the three pangaits from the rock top with a shotgun lent to him by his relative without being noticed. That’s perhaps the closest story about pangait that I knew of.

To cut the story short, I was one day at a talk about the origin of the Dusun, where the speaker prophesied that the Dusun came from Baram River in Sarawak moving upward to Sabah, they were the earlier pangaits in Borneo.

Surely there is a contradiction with many elders who said that the earlier pangaits were the Murut or Dayak group and couldn’t be the black skinned foreigners as I mentioned earlier nor could it be the earlier Dusun from Baram River.

I said, since the main business of pangait was chopping human heads, the pangaits could have started together by the invention of parang, as parang basically metal or iron.

The earlier discovery of metal parang in Borneo was in the cave somewhere in the East Coast of North Borneo, now Sabah. I therefore couldn’t imagine pangait used wood to chop someone’s head.

So pangait was originated from the East Coast of Sabah?

It erodes Malays’ faith if allowed in Peninsula

By Amde Sidik

It’s sad to learn that religious tolerance that we’ve had for so long in Sabah and Sarawak is far from being appreciated. In fact it was considered wrong by certain quarters.

We’re wrong to have lived among various religions, various races and various cultures.

This is my interpretation after having watched Yusri Muhamad, ABIM’s representative who was one of the panelists of three; others with him were Khalid Samad, and Marina Mahathir in the recent interview with 101 Alzajeera TV network.

In as far as Yusri Muhamad is concerned, we Malaysians Muslim in Sabah and Sarawak have lived the wrong way.

Sabah and Sarawak, he said, had set a bad precedent- religiously unhealthy, it confuses Malays. It will erode Malays’ confidence in their Islamic faith in Peninsula’s. That is why he apposed using word Allah for non Muslim Malaysians in Peninsula.

Even though he agreed that non Muslims in many other countries in the world have used the word Allah, but in Malaysia he considered it different.

And this is the view from some one who claimed to be intellectual, can’t be sure if he also claimed as academician.

I hope others who watched the forum would be able to make an assessment as to the quality of our intellectual in the country these days.

Malaysians, if I may say, have divided by religions- as we’ve so many religions-yet we’ve been able to live happily together for the last fifty years. That is fair, but to further subdivide Islam in this country to suit political expediency or agenda, i.e., one in Peninsula and the other Sabah and Sarawak is a bit too much? No amount of ang pau can tame me.

Fueled up by what I view after a Government Minister announced that Sabah and Sarawak are exempted; in other words, non- Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak can continue using the word Allah in their religious ritual, raised many eyebrows. Isn’t this seen as unfair? Malaysia now has two sets of rules, besides seen as arbitrary decision; when  a decision didn’t look coming out from a collective decision.

As I see it, even the leaders of the same boat are divided let alone in different boats.

If this isn’t echoing a wrong signal to general public I don’t know what else to call, at the time when the government is struggling to even mention One Malaysia to make belief that the country’s leaders are sincere.

If only my late father, my late uncles and many others knew this is the price for Sabah and Sarawak for being part of Malaysia I’m sure they would think twice to follow Tun Mustapha’s and Tun Fuad Stephen’s ideas some- fifty years ago to form Malaysia.

Whilst I’m fully aware in the past, including those from Sabah were imprisoned for saying something like this. But I must say this, if as result of what I wrote here I must land like them I think Yusri Muhammad deserved to be my jail mate.

One little point before I sign off, I was alerted by a few friends that one Sabah’s blogger  had been planning to lead a public demonstration to show that Christians-RC in Sabah were unhappy over the event that took place  in Peninsula. He also claimed to represent one of the political parties in Sabah  but was stopped by police.

I must say this is untypical of Sabahans, not because Sabahans are naive or stupid to put it crudely. Its simply isn’t our nature. Someone later told me that this guy wasn’t born in Sabah, whether he is not Sabahan or Sabahan isn’t really my concerned. But I must say this, he is not representing Malaysians Borneo -Sabah and Sarawak, so to speak. I knew what he is lacking.

By Amde Sidik

Malaysians originating from Peninsula thought that Datuk Seri Awang Tenggah Ali Hassan, a Sarawak State’s Minister for Planning and Resource Management was joking when he said his state (Sarawak) doesn’t need Race Relation Law ar one time.

I was somehow elated to mention a few things in connection with Sabah, after all Sabah and Sarawak share similar background being in Borneo Island.

With that in mind obviously there is a difference in perception about race and ethnic between Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo Malaysia. To me, the difference needs to be understood after all we are living in one nation for a long time to come.

I am ashamed in saying that they are still a lot of ignorant people after 45 years of the country’s independent, perhaps because the space created by the South China Sea, that perhaps deserved us, Sabah and Sarawak to be an autonomous states or may be even an independent status. If attitude like this persists we surely is having unfinished job for another 45 years.

In Sabah and Sarawak, I can confidently say that race, ethnic, and religion aren’t an urgent agenda. If it happens it must only by importation from outside the states not before, not now, and not in the near future, which I sincerely hope it never will.

A sudden call by the Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar to an enacting a law of Race Relation Act shocked some people here.

Many even likened the idea to rewinding an old grand father’s o’clock.

According to the Home Minister, the proposed act is to enable action to be taken against those who disrupt harmony, by causing racial tension and conflict. It puzzles many people even more, why the study didn’t cover up to Sabah and Sarawak  to determine if there is really a need of such law? In another, I felt a shame for a simple reason; we no longer trust the system that we inherited from our forefathers. To cite an example fifty years ago my grandmother never even bothered to close the door of her house day and night, no body would steal anything. Fifty years ago along Tambunan and Keniangau road, all vegetables and fruits sellers didn’t even man their gerai. What they did was, readied with an empty can or chopped bamboo container, hung them by the side of the vegetable or fruits; buyers would just drop their cash in the container and went bye bye.

I can briefly say, forty-five years down the road, Sabah and Sarawak are far better in shape on race relation or even religion if I may say. I can cite an example to illustrate my belief, I encountered many friends from Peninsular, who after experiencing living in Sabah for a few years decided to take up Sabah as their home. Of those from peninsular who live in Sabah, I think many are from Kelantan. Forget about the notion that Kelantan people are just as lefty as Sabahans thus Sabah serves the right place for them.

I am indeed not saying that Sabahans and Sarawakians don’t want to live in Peninsular, but I can say majority of them live in KL because of economic reason like taking up employment.

Briefly Sabah has about 29 registered ethnics while Sarawak has about 31, and again I couldn’t recall nor remember reading materials if there was any single occasion of infighting based on race or ethnic.

This led me into talking about little anecdote how Sabahans look at religion.

In Keningau, the interior of the Sabah one would find one peculiar Kampong called Kampong Banjar about one and a half kilometers from the town. The word Banjar derived from an ethnic whose origin were Banjarmasin in Kalimantan, also known today as Banjarese or Orang Banjar.

Banjarese are known to be pious Muslim but they’re also Banjarese who are not Muslim in Kalimantan.

The uniqueness of this earlier migrant of Banjarese, of all places in Sabah they chose to live and built their kampong in Keningau, which was surrounded by Pagan community in those days. If one to suggest logistically, they could have just conveniently made their kampongs somewhere in the East Coast of Sabah like, Tawau or Sandakan.

The moral of my saying is, Muslims in Sabah have no problem with their Pagan, Christian or any other religions as neighbours and this is true until to the very day.

The Minister in his statement stated that the very purpose of this Race Relation Act is to safeguard and strengthen relations among the different races in the country.

If for argument that Malaysia is following UK, which has race relation act, we must bear in mind our setting and cultures are far depart from UK, an almost completely coming from different scale. I would rather say, it is far better that our lawmakers spend their time and resources on things we urgently need, like educating people about the importance of information technology or what democracy is all about.

Some time ago I was with two Professors at the local university who invited me to attend to his workshop on Sabah ethnics.

One of them asked my view if I could put in percentage of how high is my confidence level of the unlikelihood of racial war breaking out in Sabah. My reply was, Sabah people would be last to emulate Madura incident.  My scale is 99%. It shocked them for a while. My reason among them is; Sabah society is very mixed races and religions.

The unlikely event of tension is because as in my case, I still have plenty of cousins, uncles and aunties who have different religion than mine. Anyone tries to segregate us I would be the first one to defend my relatives, regardless their race and religion.

Here is where I see our Federal Constitution at works.

My relatives in Lawas, Sarawak for example, non-Muslim but you would find them in one fine morning wearing songkok and you surely be mistaking, thinking them Muslim or you would find because their names sound Muslim like, Yussof, Idris, and so on.

During the trouble time of May 13th, Sabah people didn’t even hear about the trouble until it was already over so also Sabah people never had problem with communist, not a single fight. The only big problem Sabah people has while other states don’t endure, as much is, the never-ending illegal problem. Perhaps this is where the Minister of Home Affair should be more concerned.

Amde Sidik is part-time lecturer in Law at  local University, and an author. He also lectures for MBA students in International Institutions and Political Environment. He can be contacted at his emailamdesidik@live.com

By Amde Sidik

Earlier posted in Kadayan Journal

Round one for Christians.

Will round two for Muslims?

I hate to be included in the race just because I’m a Muslim it doesn’t mean I agree with it.

Who is my wakil to speak on my behalf?

I couldn’t remember much nor have I heard in the past if any of the Peninsula’s (Semanajung or Malaya) based ethnic groups ever used word “Allah” when referring to God. Thus no great surprise when some Muslims from this part of the country sprung like bullet when they heard non-Muslims from Malaysia Borneo saying it. For the first time? After fifty odd years? They didn’t realise after all that Christians or non-Christians a like (besides Muslims) from Malaysia Borneo refer their God as Allah too.

How were we with it then for the last hundreds years?

The hooha-hooha about the word Allah started in Peninsular where the people there never used it, while the irony Malaysians in Borneo used it never even bother to care who owns it-who are most perturbed? Now the battle ground end up in Kuala Lumpur, plain funny!

Okay, much has been said about it.

We move on, lots more things that people from Peninsula aren’t familiar with aren’t just about word Allah. Briefly I give a typical background of Malaysian Borneo with regard to Islamic religion. Most of us, the Muslim today had our fore parents weren’t Muslims, like me, for instance as later as only three generations. My granddad’s parents were pagan looked after by Muslims’ family I therefore became Muslim today. I have many cousins who aren’t Muslims all over Borneo, yet I don’t remember if ever religion was an issue among us.

If there is an argument about faith whether we did it right or wrong I shall standby for any call to debate.

A few months ago I was in the Church as well at the Christian’s graveyard burying my late cousin.

In another scenario, even today a number of young people in Sabah who voluntarily embraced Islam, where in a family, some of the children or relatives take up Islam as their religion whilst their parents are Christian or some have no particular religion. They still live under one roof. The novelty though, the way I see it, its only fair and logical for children to look after their parents who are no longer working, in other words, the children’s turn to take care of their elderly parents.

More interestingly every Sunday, the children send their parents to Church because the parents choose to go, while at the same token the children go to the mosque. The parents constantly reminding their Children to be strictly follow their new faith that they voluntarily embraced. The children performed the Islamic ritual, praying or even attending religious classes, and doing like ordinary Muslims are doing and no quarrel in the house. And I must say this; I’m astounded with disgrace by the lackadaisical attitude by some of Islamic Religious officers in the State who in dispensing their duty are far more concerned about their overtime pays then their actual duty as religious officers. Again, relating to the former, I’m pretty sure if it happens in Peninsula the whole sky will fall down. Surely gloomy!

My opinion again is, all religion somehow started with simple beginning that was how Islam attracted mankind at its earlier period. It’s not religion that created misery; it’s the people- the Muslims so to speak. I agree with Dr Faisal Al Qasim in his recent article. In Malaysia, leave everything else to Muslims; I think we are no better than Pakistan, a failed nation.

Back to the issue of word Allah, at the country’s High Court of law, judgment had been made, okaying the use of world Allah, I already heard some people pitying the judge who laboured with the burden by putting forward justice first. But no, to some Muslims calling Allah confuses people or confuses all Muslims, which is which? That has been the reason of disallowing others to use word Allah.

Only this morning though from Sabah, the President of Council of Justices of Peace who is also the Chairman of Institute for Development Studies Sabah, Datuk Clarence Bongkos Malakun made a high profile statement, urging the Christians in particular Roman Catholic of the country or shall I say, asking fellow Christians to stay clear. Anyone connected to this affair should compromise; that there is a need to take stoke looking at the present situation and in the interest of national security and public order. To cut short, please Christians drop the word Allah let the Muslim brothers have exclusive right, after all Malakun said; we already won the first round at the court of law.  He urged all must understand that Muslims brothers are angry because they feel that the word Allah is traditionally used in Malaysia refer to the Islamic concept of God.

To be frank I feel disgusted with such statement. No better than giving sweets to a three-year-old kid, I’m sure some people have other opinion but I think this is not a scholarly opinion, instead he should have explained why is there a different in the way we think here compare with some people in Peninsula with regard to this topic, and why being sulky? In all  honestly nothing to compromise or pitying one another; to me behaving in this manner is only to be read that we Malaysians Borneo have no constructive opinion on our own to offer to the nation.

My view is our country is losing its luster in one-way or the other. The country is already losing credibility when talking about religious and ethnic tolerance, which I considered to be round three. Round one, on economic front, our nation is no longer a tiger as what it was called decades ago. Round two country’s administrations are marred by never-ending scandals from one to another, too many sudden deaths while under the custody of authorities, and too many controversial people missing in action.

Another classical example, where is the logic that jet fighter engines of Royal Malaysia Air Force shipped out of the country which cost million ringgits at the very nose of guardians of the nation; ended up in the other end of the world. The findings in the end is only blaming a lowly ranking airman, as if nothing serious ever happening. I would imagine a better lesson for them would be to suspend all the big brass from duties until all issues resolved. So too, the other day was with reference to Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission-MACC. PM should have suspended all the bosses connected with the case until issues resolved then only there is a fair chance that the country’s leaders regain people’s confidence. That’s what I called action. Today, so far, any action taken is no more than cosmetic repair, like, trying to rid a pimple on the face after eating too much ground peanuts.

Have a nice day!

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