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The Borneo state won greater autonomy and held all the cards to make more concessions.
James Chin, The Translation
The ruling coalition in Sarawak, Malaysia, Sarawak Party Alliance (GPS) has been working since 2018 to achieve the political goal of establishing the most autonomous state within the Federation of Malaysia. This has raised concerns in the administrative capital, Putrajaya, that it will lead to some kind of secession from the federation in the long term.
The starting point is to understand the historical grievances between Sarawak and Sabah in Borneo. As early as 1963, they signed Malaysia Agreement (MA63) Thus the Federation of Malaysia was born. The states of Borneo were promised political autonomy from federal control and guaranteed by political interference from the central government. During the first half century, as the Malay regime in the peninsula sought to concentrate power in the federal government, the central government neglected many safeguards. The Borneo states have been powerless, especially during the long reign of Malaysian strongman Mahathir Mohamad and his party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). In 2018, everything fell apart when UMNO lost power and Malaysia experienced its first regime change.
It has since gone through four governments, the most recent led by Anwar Ibrahim. The important thing is that GPS is essential to the establishment of every government. One might say that GPS provided all four administrations with the numbers they needed to build government and provide political stability.
This in turn allows GPS to obtain Political concessions From Putrajaya.
In addition to state-controlled security systems, Sarawak will effectively have institutions as a “state within a state” as more and more federal powers are transferred locally.
First, amend the Federal Constitution in 2021 to reflect the special status of Sarawak and Sabah and insert the term “Malaysia Agreement” into the Constitution, thereby cementing the guarantees given at independence into the Constitution.
Secondly, a Sarawakian was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in 2022, which is the first time in the country’s history.
Third, about half of the Malaysian cabinet is from Sarawak and Sabah, even though they make up less than 20% of the Malaysian population.
Fourth, Sarawak changed the name of its Chief Minister to Prime Minister to indicate that it is not just a state in the federation. All states in the peninsula call their highest political office the Chief Minister (president).
Fifth, the federal government restarted special allocations to Sabah and Sarawak. Sabah is filing a separate claim against the federal government for 40% of all Sabah revenue. This was part of the MA63 agreement, but the federal government stopped paying the state its entitlements starting in 1974.
Sixth, Sarawak established its own oil company PETROS to control oil and natural gas resources in Sarawak.
In addition, Sarawak plans to have state-level powers in health and education, which have been considered federal matters since independence. To the dismay of Malay nationalists on the peninsula, Sarawak has announced it will restore English as the official language of instruction in some schools. Sarawak will have its own airline by early next year. As more and more federal powers are transferred locally, Sarawak will effectively have a “state within a state” of institutions, in addition to state-controlled security systems.
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