• Advertise
  • About us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us
Monday, June 16, 2025
Australian Times News
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia
No Result
View All Result
Australian Times News
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Is Malaysia heading for ‘BorneoExit’? Why some in East Malaysia are advocating for secession

Unity is a common theme every year on Malaysia Day, the holiday celebrated last week that marks the day Malaysia became a federation in 1963.

The Conversation by The Conversation
25-09-2020 18:07
in News
East Malaysia are advocating for secession

East Malaysia are advocating for secession Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

James Chin, University of Tasmania

Unity is a common theme every year on Malaysia Day, the holiday celebrated last week that marks the day Malaysia became a federation in 1963.

FAZRY ISMAIL/EPA

That year, Britain agreed to relinquish control of most of its remaining colonies in Southeast Asia — Singapore, North Borneo (now called Sabah) and Sarawak. They then joined with Malaya, which had gained independence from Britain in 1957, to form a new nation called Federation of Malaysia.

The legal instrument to form the federation is called the Malaysia Agreement (MA63).

Yet, for the people of Sabah and Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo, the agreement left many with mixed emotions. Some people in these states have long desired secession and, in recent years, the drumbeat of separation has only grown louder.

This issue is now a key political issue in the Sabah state election this weekend and upcoming the Sarawak elections, which must be held before the end of 2021.

The two parts of Malaysia are separated by the South China Sea. Shutterstock

Source of historical grievances

In a nutshell, most people in Sabah and Sarawak (also known as East Malaysia) are unhappy with federation because they think it has not delivered on two main promises made in 1962 — high levels of autonomy and economic development.

AlsoRead...

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

5 June 2025
Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

28 May 2025

In the first area, the federal government has stripped away a lot of local powers in Sabah and Sarawak in the last 57 years. On top of that, the federal authorities have tried to impose the same toxic racial and religious politics found in Malaya (also known as West Malaysia) to the eastern states.

East Malaysia is much more ethnically and religiously diverse compared to the west. For example, the Malay population is a minority in both Sabah and Sarawak; in fact, no ethnic group constitutes more than 40% in either state. As a result, political Islam has not taken root here.

In fact, one of the defining features of East Malaysia is intermarriage among the different ethnic and religious groups. The divide between Muslims and non-Muslims is reasonably insignificant — a marked difference from the often suspicious attitude Islamic leaders have toward non-Muslims in Kuala Lumpur.

In terms of economic development, Sabah remains one of the poorest states in Malaysia. And the infrastructure in both Sabah and Sarawak is vastly underdeveloped compared to the west of Malaysia.

To add insult to injury, more than half of Malaysia’s oil and gas production comes from Sabah and Sarawak. The common joke is that all the iconic infrastructure in peninsular Malaysia, such as the Petronas Towers, Penang Bridge and Kuala Lumpur international airport, was built with money from East Malaysia.

The infrastructure in Kuala Lumpur far exceeds that in Malaysia’s eastern states. FAZRY ISMAIL/EPA

Britain’s hand in the federation

In recent times, one of the biggest grievances in East Malaysia comes from the process of decolonisation administered by the British after the second world war.

There is clear, documented evidence that back in 1962, the colonial office in London used its powers and influence to get the local leaders in Sabah and Sarawak to agree to the formation of Malaysia.

The British wanted a clean exit from Southeast Asia and to ensure its former colonies did not turn to communism. So the British conceived the idea of a “Federation of Malaysia”, where its former territories would come under a single political entity.

Activists in East Malaysia say if the British had not supported the formation of the federation, it was highly unlikely local leaders would have agreed to it. Many would have instead preferred independence or a federation consisting of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei (which gained independence from Britain much later, in 1984).

A campaign event in Sabah ahead of this weekend’s elections. Shutterstock

What Sabah and Sarawak want

All these historical grievances have led to a growing movement in Sabah and Sarawak advocating for secession from the federation.

With elections upcoming in both states, all local politicians — including those serving in the federal government — are now claiming to be MA63 nationalists trying to keep “Malaya out” of Sabah and Sarawak.

Social media is one key reason the secessionist movement has taken off in East Malaysia. It is now much easier for advocates to organise and magnify their grievances.

What the Sabah and Sarawak people want, at the very least, is a constitutional amendment to recognise the special autonomy of both states. But a significant minority argues the whole federation has failed, and thus secession is the only way forward.

Currently, the secessionist groups pose no real threat to the federation. But if enough people buy the secession argument in the future, public sentiment may be too strong for the national leaders to ignore.

How should the federal government respond?

There are basically two options available to the federal government.

The first is the ostensibly easy option — the political route. This would require the federal government to recognise the historical grievances and try to resolve them.

However, this is not as simple as it seems. The government is reluctant to grant real autonomy to the two states, worried this will end up weakening federal powers in the other 11 states of the federation.

There was an attempt to reword the Constitution last year to symbolically recognise the special status of both states, but it failed.

This is the only way to keep the federation together, however. The federal leaders need to agree to recognise the special status of Sabah and Sarawak and grant them wide autonomy in the Constitution, as envisaged in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.

The second option for the government is to play a wait-and-see game. Politically, this is dangerous, as the final outcome could very well be secession.

By way of comparison, the push for independence in Catalonia was similarly based on historical grievances that mushroomed into a mainstream political movement and eventually an independence referendum — declared illegal by Spain’s constitutional court.

At the very least, what is happening on the ground in East Malaysia suggests the decolonisation process in Southeast Asia is not yet complete. This colonial legacy is not merely history, but is clearly reflected in the present reality.

James Chin, Professor of Asian Studies, University of Tasmania

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Tags: SB001
DMCA.com Protection Status

SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER

[mc4wp_form id=”2384248″]

Don't Miss

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

by Pauline Torongo
5 June 2025
Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era
Business & Finance

If you're leading a software team today, you've likely noticed the shift: faster feature rollouts, routine automation, and AI taking...

Read more

How to Save on Airport Parking: Budget Tips Every Traveller Should Know

by Fazila Olla-Logday
3 June 2025
How to Save on Airport Parking
Travel

Saving money on airport parking can be a challenge,but here are some budget friendly tips to help you navigate.

Read more

Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

by Pauline Torongo
28 May 2025
Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin
Business & Finance

Bélanger-Martin’s ambitions stretch beyond redefining inflight comfort—they’re rooted in resurrecting the romance of supersonic travel with a modern twist.

Read more

Why a Gluten Free Hamper is simply the Best Gift for a Coeliac

by Fazila Olla-Logday
22 May 2025
Gluten Free Hamper
at

Buying a thoughtful gift can be tricky at the best of times, but when someone has dietary restrictions like coeliac...

Read more

Biela.dev is quietly becoming the Infrastructure Layer for the Next Internet

by Pauline Torongo
15 May 2025
Biela.dev is quietly becoming the Infrastructure Layer for the Next Internet
Technology

Biela.dev is not merely a consumer app; it is infrastructure. It could be a layer that powers the next generation...

Read more

The Battle for the Premier League’s Fifth Champions League Spot: Who Will Prevail?

by Fazila Olla-Logday
8 May 2025
Premier-Leagues-Fifth-Champions-League-Janosch-Diggelmann-Unsplash
at

As the Premier League season nears its climax, the race for the coveted Champions League places is tighter and more...

Read more

The Predictive Infrastructure: How BOF’s Neuro Finance System Reengineers Market Forecasting

by Pauline Torongo
5 May 2025
The Predictive Infrastructure: How BOF’s Neuro Finance System Reengineers Market Forecasting
Business & Finance

As global markets become more complex and volatile, BOF Investments has developed Neuro Finance, a predictive system that combines machine...

Read more
Load More

Copyright © Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
australiantimes.co.uk is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd. Reproduction without permission prohibited. DMCA.com Protection Status

  • About us
  • Write for Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • T&Cs, Privacy and GDPR
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia

Copyright © Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
australiantimes.co.uk is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd. Reproduction without permission prohibited. DMCA.com Protection Status