KUCHING, September 15: Sarawak for Sarawakians (S4S) holds the view that it was only after 2010 that Malaysians started realising the real history of the formation of Malaysia.
Its spokesperson Erick Chin opined that before 2010, Sarawakians were “deceived by Malaya”.
“What is 916? I believe that the Malaysian people only realized the history of Malaysia in 2010. The Malaysian founding day was in 916 instead of the 831 we are familiar with,” said Chin in a press statement.
He said the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963, was made up of four British colonies: Sarawak, North Borneo (now Sabah), Singapore and the federation of Malaya.
With the unveiling of crucial historical facts, he said it was thus the right of Sarawak to choose not to celebrate Aug 31 but July 22 as Sarawak Independence Day.
Chin questioned how Sarawakians should react to the celebration on Sept 16 when “since Sarawak joined the Federation in 1963, Malaya never considered Sarawak as their partner, and after the British colonisation, we were once again being colonised!”.
Chin stated that Sarawak had never been fairly treated by Peninsular Malaysia, and this is evident from Sarawak’s overall development that is 30 years behind other states despite Sarawak contributing to the nation’s coffers with its oil and gas resources.
“There are a handful of people, including politicians, comparing the United States with Malaysia. They are saying that the United States is made up of 50 states, but they chose to prioritise Washington with Independence Day on July 4. What a shame,” said Chin.
He said the key point was that 13 states came together to form the United States, and they chose July 4 to be the Independence Day. The others later “joined” and naturally observed July 4 as Independence Day.
“But the Malaysian Federation did not have the ‘Malaysia’ federal state until Sept 16, 1963. These are four independent states of Sarawak, North Borneo, Singapore, and Malaya,” he said. — DayakDaily
