Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem is capitalising on Sarawak nationalist movements in the state to gain support, according to several academics.
This became evident on July 22 where Adenan (photo) held his own function celebrating Sarawak’s independence day, just as thousands showed up for a separate ‘722 Sarawak Freedom and Independence Day Walk’ despite stern warnings from the police.
Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar had said that the march in Kuching had secessionist overtones and should be cancelled.
The two parallel events mark the anniversary of the day when the British handed over power to the first Sarawak Chief Minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan, on the condition that the state would later
join Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia.
The practice of observing the date however only began in 2013 with Sarawak civil society groups, but now sees its largest turnout ever.
Phoon Wing Keong, who is a political scientist from Fudan University in China, said that a strong central government would have cracked down or disrupted the movement, as it did with Bersih’s pro-electoral reform rallies.
What happened instead however, he noted, is Adenan holding his own celebration at the Sarawak state assembly with government officials, including the governor Abdul Taib Mahmud.
“I believe that the chief minister is directly or indirectly spurring on the pro-regionalism and pro-autonomy movements, so that it can become the basis of his power.
“He can then use this to ask Umno and Kuala Lumpur for more benefits, which would then increase Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) bargaining power and Sarawak’s influence, and in turn solidify Adenan’s position,” he told Malaysiakini yesterday.
Indirectly strengthen Najib’s position
Phoon, who was present at the march, said since that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the federal government are already weak, PBB and Sarawak BN has more room to manoeuvre and consolidate its strength.
This would also indirectly strengthen Najib’s (photo) position since it would reduce BN’s chances of losing the state election, which needs to be held by August next year.
Meanwhile, Asian Institute in Tasmania director James Chin said while the PBB chief Adenan is supporting calls for greater autonomy for Sarawak within Malaysia, he is also urging Sarawak voters to do so by supporting Sarawak-based parties.
This means that the two main opposition parties in the state, PKR and DAP, would be excluded because they are seen to be Peninsula-based parties.
He said that PBB and Sarawak United People’s Party are playing well to Sarawak nationalist sentiments, and such messages would appeal to Iban, Malay and some other communities.
As for the rally itself, he claimed that the unspoken demand of the participants is for Sarawak to pull out of Malaysia.
“Basically what the organisers have done are quite clever. They played around with words. They know what if they use the word ‘secession’, for sure tomorrow they will (be arrested under
the) Sedition Act already.
“So they replaced the word with ‘referendum’, which basically means the same thing,” he told Malaysakini yesterday.
He speculated that if such a referendum were to be held now, the result will be close to 50-50 between the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes.
Asked about the portraits of the White Rajahs and the coat of arms of the Brooke family paraded at the rally, Chin said it is a reference to a promise made by the Brooke family while they were in exile during the Second World War.
They had made nine promises, he said, in case they were to regain control of Sarawak and decide to relinquish it.
“They said that: ‘If we ever give Sarawak up, we will guarantee Sarawak a certain number of things – the nine cardinal rules’.
“One of the nine cardinal rules is that, if we the Brook family ever give up power, they will return the power to the people of Sarawak. In other words, they will grant Sarawak independence,” Chin explained.
Non-Muslim bumiputera feeling marginalised
The professor based in Australia explained that the Sarawak nationalist movements are driven mainly by two factors.
"One of them is that the older Sarawakians remembered the British administration or lived through the 1960s and 1970s when the state was different, and felt that the promise of Malaysia was not lived up to.
"Youth support for the movement was not 'across the board', but is primarily driven by non-Muslim bumiputera feeling marginalised," Chin said.
He said although the Federal Constitution gives a special position to people of Sabah and Sarawak, they felt that they were “third-class or fourth-class Bumiputera”.
Another factor, Chin said, are religious and ethnic tensions, which Sarawakians believe to be a problem originating from Peninsula Malaysia’s conflicts between Malays and non-Malays, and between
Muslims and non-Muslims.
He said Sarawakians are concerned that such conflicts are bringing changes to Sarawak as well.
In addition to these, Chin said the federal government is wielding too much power on the state, such as issues of funding and English language education, which plays a minor role in fuelling Sarawak nationalist movements as well.
“The strong sense of Sarawak nationalism will get stronger and stronger in the coming years. The only way to stop this is either to grant Sabah and Sarawak special autonomy, or they have a security crackdown.
“Under Malaysia’s current regime, they have chosen the second one. They will not grant Sabah and Sarawak autonomy but they will have a security crackdown,” he added.
Another academician, Andrew Aeria of University Malaysia Sarawak’s social sciences faculty, slammed the campaigns for autonomy from both Sarawak BN and the activists as running the risk of being
“vacuous and jingoistic”.
“For now, there is nothing in their respective campaigns that meets the needs of ordinary, poor Sarawakians.
“It smacks of being urban-run elitist campaigns by conservative forces who are bent on preserving their inability to compete with the globalised world,” he said yesterday.
He added that the campaign even risks becoming racist by implying that Sarawak only needs and wants Sarawakians.
He said the people running these campaigns should review them and convince the public that they are not self-serving.
“Failing which, people will only conclude that their respective campaigns are just political jingoism disguised as real issues - which they are not,” he said.-Malaysiakini
