Sarawak, for the first time, will be celebrating Sarawak Day on July 22, the day that it was granted Internal self- government after more than a century of rule by the Brookes’ family and the British Colonial Government.
Sarawak on July 22, 1963 had it first Governor, a Sarawakian and the first Chief Minister also a Sarawakian. The people of Sarawak, comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups became sovereign people, or people on their own.
The promises made by the third Rajah in September 1941 were that that the Brookes’ family held Sarawak in trust for the people of Sarawak. But then they would redeem that trust and handed back the governance of the country to the people. That was one of the cardinal principles of 1941.
Of course, they did not fulfill that promise as a few months later the Japanese invaded Sarawak and became the masters. After the Japanese destroyed the country, Sarawak became backward, poor and a miserable. And the Brookes family thought, much to the opposition of the local people, it was better for Sarawak to become a British colony.
Eventually, when the people could prove that they could take care of themselves, the State could enact a Constitution being enforced by the people themselves; they were no longer ruled from the Whitehall in London.
The State began to have an elected government; it became self-government. That was the stage reached on July 22, 1963. Sarawak is celebrating the occasion that it was given self – government.
The actual day was marked with swearing of the members the first post Independent State Cabinet before the then Governor Sir Alexander Waddell. The members were Stephen Kalong Ningkan, James Wong Kim Min, Teo Kui Seng, Pengiran Hipni Awang Anu, Abdul Taib bin Mahmud, Dunstan Endawie Enchana and three ex- officio – Shaw, Pike and Hayward. That was the first Sarawak Cabinet.
They had the meeting on the very day being chaired by Stephen Kalong Ningkan and not a colonial master. That was the symbolism that the people were on their own feet. They were recognized as the people who could govern themselves. Members of the Cabinet agreed that Sarawak should be a party to the formation of Malaysia and that Malaysia should come into being on August 31, 1963.
Of course, Sarawak must insist that it was a party to the formation of Malaysia by virtue of Malaysia Agreement signed in Lancaster House in London by Harold MacMillan for England, Tunku Abdul Rahman for Malaya, Lee Kwan Yew for Singapore, Donald Stephen/Mustapha Harun for North Borneo and Abang Openg Abang Sapiee, Ling Beng Siew, Jugah anak Barieng and Datu Bandar Abang Haji Mustapha for Sarawak. The people of Sarawak decided on that.
Sarawak in 1963 was under the threat of communist resurrection and hostile neighbors. Indonesia, which construed Malaysia as neo-imperialism, conducted the Anti Malaysia campaign with the battle cry of “Ganyang Malaysia” or Crush Malaysia.
Of course, Malaysia as a new nation was defenseless and Sarawak could not afford to be on its own in those circumstances. Hence, Malaysia was the only option open to Sarawak for the sake of security, racial balance and peace and security.
Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan, who served as the first Chief Minister of Sarawak from 1963 to 1966 was succeeded by Datuk Tawi Sli as the second Chief Minister from 1966 to 1970.
The third Chief Minister was Dato Haji Abdul Rahman Yakub (Tun Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Yakub), who served from 1970 to 1981 and brought greater political stability and a new impetus of development. During his period in office, the Declaration of Sri Aman was signed in Simanggang in October 1973, which granted general amnesty to 574 former Communist Terrorists to rejoin the community.
This was followed up on October 17, 1990 with the signing of the final agreement to end Confrontation with the North Kalimantan Communist Party; thus ending the 27-year long state of emergency in Sarawak.
Datuk Amar Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, (now Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, the current Governor of Sarawak) took office as the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak on March 26, 1981. By then he had already served in the federal cabinet in various capacities and under four Prime Ministers for 13 years since 1968. He started his political career at the age of 27 with his appointment as the Minister for Communications and Works on July 22, 1963 in the first post –Independence State Cabinet.
He introduced the politics of development, as the state’s philosophy of development, as his primary concern, since becoming the Chief Minister, was to pull Sarawak from backwater of development into its mainstream. He had been preoccupied with the idea that Sarawak must run faster than other states in order to catch up with their progress and advancement.
Then the rate of poverty in the state was about 60 per cent and unemployment among the people especially youth in villages and longhouses were very high. The demographic pattern of the State was about 80% rural and 20% urban.
The situation gave rise to an explosive feeling of dissatisfaction against the government, which was being accused of pursuing politics of favoritism. Consequently, instigating racial and communal feelings was the best weapon to win support, though a highly divisive support, in any elections.
The new way forward, for Datuk Amar Abdul Taib was to mobilize the people and orientate them towards development. Besides, the way forward was also to motivate youth to have more confidence in themselves and be prepared to accept changes and reinvigorate members of the civil service and synergize their services with the demands of development. It was indeed a tall order.
Datuk Amar Abdul Taib believed politics in Sarawak, like those in the rest of the country, must be based on sincere desire to achieve something to fulfill independence with good economic growth and development that could bring positive changes to the people.
To him the other forms of politics, with a lot of rhetoric or worse empty talks, do not bring any benefits, development benefits in particular to the people, state and country. Hence, effforts must be made to reduce politicking among the people because, in any political fights, it is the people who get confused the most, their line of thinking and attitude will be distracted.
Datuk Amar Abdul Taib made it very clear that politics of development is not a slogan. It is making politics substantial to the demands of development. The politics of development dictates in the people the kind of attitude that places demands of development above own politics as long as they do not conflict with the prospects of survival.
Preferably, they should start from a different premise and think of what they can do for the people by co-operation rather than by fighting. They should all think what they can do for the people by being patient in building up the momentum for a strong development
Datuk Amar Abdul Taib said racial and extreme religious practices and politics that tend to divide the people must be fought by all people. The two things cannot be compromised as the development of the future cannot afford to accommodate negative elements.
He held a strong view that whatever political views being entertained by the people must not prevent them from agreeing, as a matter of principle, on the question of development for the people. Unfortunately, politics had gone quite far that some leaders on the opposition thought that they should continue to harp on development issues to suit their political agenda and score political points on the ground.
It is time for them to stop with petty politics and instead work together in matters of development for the overall progress and prosperity of the people. Those persisting with petty practices in order to score political points will only have themselves to blame if they cannot deliver the goods that they have promised to their constituents. This is the reality of the future”
Regrettably, members of the opposition, those from Peninsular Malaysia in particular are being arrogant with the tendency to belittle the progress being made by Sarawak during the last 53 years. Actually, they are showing total disrespect to leaders of the previous generation, most of who did not have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their struggle, for their services and spirit of sacrifices in building the state.
Generally, members of the opposition from Peninsular Malaysia consider the state as being backward for not having good road systems in towns; the trans Borneo highway to connect one end to the other end of Sarawak with a total length of 1,140 KMs, is still under construction and will only be ready by 2023,
In this, they actually spike their own nose for being ignorant of the fact that the development of highway and other major road projects are the responsibility of the Federal government. If they are concerned that Sarawak, with a total land surface of more 12.4 million hectares, which is as big as Peninsular Malaysia, should have a highway and overall good quality of roads, they should be shouting at the Federal Ministry of Works to give sufficient allocations for the purpose.
Nothing angers the people of Sarawak more than to be reminded that they have poor road systems and no highway, which is of course true, as compared to Peninsular Malaysia. It only reminds them that the Federal Ministry of Works, in the past, had not been sympathetic to Sarawak. Obviously, most of the oil money, quite a substantial sum of it comes from Sarawak, has only been spent to build more highways and upgrade the quality of roads in Peninsular Malaysia.
Thanks God, for the first time, the Federal government under the leadership of Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, as the Prime Minister with his own mandate, has made the development of highway a priority. His predecessors were thinking either of constructing the crooked bridge across the Johore straits or building the second Penang Bridge as their legacies.
Looking ahead, Sarawak is poised to achieve greater height of success in terms of development and progress. The state should be able to join other states to become a developed state by the year 2020. Hence, the people must develop their own capacity to involve themselves in the process of development and benefit more from their own efforts.
In this regards, they must pool their resources together and intensify efforts to achieve greater things in life. It is the only way for them to become members of a developed society like those in Australia, Japan, Europe and other developed countries.
Obviously, the people, state and the country, from now onward, must have the courage to do things differently. They must have the courage and the boldness to undertake bigger and more challenging projects to ensure that Sarawak can join other states to become parts of a developed nation.
The challenges ahead will be steep but surmountable provided the people take necessary steps to prepare themselves with the necessary knowledge, skill and experience to face them.
Undeniably, the State has been very successful with its development. For example, the state can boast of the fact that the overall progress and prosperity is six times better than those being achieved by the previous governments put together during the last 300 years. The last frontier must necessarily be Murut – Kelabit highlands or more specifically the mountainous region between Ba’kelalan and Bario.
The future development of the region will require a huge expenditure, which the government, with its limited resources, will not be able to undertake alone. The government needs the support and co-operation of the people in working to create conducive environment to attract investment from the private sector to develop the region.
The State is celebrating Sarawak day as an appropriate way to depict the success of the struggle not only to make a success of Malaysia but achieve the common ambition to build Sarawak, through a bonding in the true spirit of Anak Sarawak Rakyat Malaysia, as a successful state in the country.
