Sabah
For the Lebanese Singer/Actress, see Sabah (singer).For the 2005 film, see Sabah (film).Sabah is the second largest state in
Malaysia and is also known as
Negeri di bawah bayu which means "The Land Below The Wind" . Former geographic name for Sabah is
North Borneo, a
British Crown Colony before becoming a state of
Federation of Malaysia. Sabah used to be part of the Philippines, but now it is one of the two
Malaysian states on the
island of
Borneo. Situated on the northeast of the island, Sabah is smaller than its sister state,
Sarawak. The southern part of the island, called
Kalimantan, belongs to
Indonesia. The state capital is
Kota Kinabalu, formerly known as
Jesselton.
Sabah is generally mountainous, with the Crocker range of central mountains varying in height from about 1,000 metres to 3,000 metres, which at its peak of
Mount Kinabalu rises up to 4095 metres, and with several lower ranges of hills near the coasts. These mountains and hills are traversed by an extensive network of river valleys and are in most cases covered with dense
rainforest. Over three quarters of the population inhabit the coastal plains.
Mount Kinabalu, in central Sabah, is the highest mountain in Malaysia, and second in
Southeast Asia.
Sabah was taken over by the
British North Borneo Company in
1881, and became a protectorate of the
British Empire with internal affairs still administered by the company in
1888. In
1946 the Company's rule ended and it became the colony of
North Borneo. On August 31 1963, it was granted self-government power before it formed the
Malaysian federation on September 16
1963 along with
Malaya, Singapore and Sarawak. Since 1963, the state has been known as Sabah.
The
Philippines claims the whole of Sabah as part of its territory, based upon the
Sultanate of
Brunei's cession of its north-east territories to the
Sultanate of Sulu in 1703, because of military assistance given by the latter to the former.
Sabah has a
democratic political system with
universal suffrage. A general
election for State and Federal level officials is held every five years.
The present elected State and Federal Government posts are held by
Barisan Nasional, a
coalition of major ethnic parties, including
UMNO,
Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP),
United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) &
Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) and
Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).
A bizarre feature of Sabah politics is a policy initiated by the Barisan Nasional in 1994: the Chief Minister's post is rotated among the coalition parties every 2 years, regardless of the party in power at the time, thus theoretically giving an equal amount of time for each major ethnic group to rule the State. This serves to extremely weaken the executive branch of the State government, which was formerly much at odds with the federal government in
Kuala Lumpur. It also serves to give a disproportionate power to the minority
Malay ethnic group, enabling them to overturn any local legislature implemented by the majority
Kadazan-Dusun. This practice has since stopped with power now held by majority in the state assembly by the UMNO party, which also holds a majority in the national Parliament but still give a disproportionate power to the Malay ethnic group, the majority in the country but not this state.
UMNO had a quick rise to power since its entry into Sabah in 1991 where before that both eastern Malaysian states were not penetrated by the party, whose president is the de facto leader of the ruling coalition BN and automatically the Prime Minister of Malaysia. This has given rise to dissent as the Chief Minister rotation system was halted just as UMNO, a Malay-based political party, was holding the post. Thus the 2004 general elections saw widespread disillusionment, coupled with an ineffectual opposition. The state assembly is now dominated by the ruling party BN (who conversely also did not penetrate Sabah until the 1990s.) with only one seat held by an opposition politician who is an independent candidate. This was caused by a general sentiment where a number of voters were reluctant to cast votes for BN whose victory was almost assured but did not trust the opposition parties, most of which were not vigorously active before the election. Therefore many cast votes for independent candidates.
Sabah politics (as are Malaysia's) are very much based upon party lines. A recent effort by PBS, a component party of BN, to hatch a co-operation with the one opposition candidate within the state assembly (whom conversely was a former UMNO member competing independently because he was not nominated for the constituency by his party) in an unprecedented attempt at bipartisanship, was harshly criticized by UPKO, another component party of BN.
Although Sabah entered
Malaysia as a
autonomous state, resistance to pressure from Kuala Lumpur's vision of a
one-party unitary
Islamic state dominated by ethnic Malays has created considerable friction and even occasional calls for
secession. These tensions are further inflamed by Kuala Lumpur's colonial mentality towards Sabah, wherein 95% of the profits from Sabah's immense natural resources are taken by the federal government, leaving the state government with only 5%. Aside from nominally separate immigration controls, little evidence remains of Sabah's theoretical autonomy.
| Year | Party | Chief Minister |
|---|
| 1963-1964 | United National Kadazan Org (UNKO) | Datuk Donald Stephens |
|---|
| 1965-1967 | Sabah Chinese Association (SCA) | Datuk Peter Lo Sui Yin |
|---|
| 1967-1975 | USNO | Tun Datu Haji Mustapha Datu Harun |
|---|
| 1975-1976 | USNO | Tun Datuk Hj. Mohd. Said Bin Keruak |
|---|
| 1976 (44 days) | Berjaya | Tun Datuk Haji Mohd Fuad Stephens |
|---|
| 1976-1985 | Berjaya | Datuk Amar Harris Bin Mohd Salleh |
|---|
| 1985-1994 | Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) | Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan |
|---|
| 1994-1995 | Barisan Nasional (BN) | Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Sakaran Bin Dandai |
|---|
| 1995-1996 | Barisan Nasional(BN) | Datuk Mohd Salleh Tun Mohd Said |
|---|
| 1996-1998 | Sabah Progressive Party(SAPP) | Datuk Yong Teck Lee |
|---|
| 1998 | Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS) | Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Bernard Dompok |
|---|
| 1999 | Barisan Nasional (BN) | Datuk Seri Panglima Osu Bin HJ. Sukam |
|---|
| 2001 | Barisan Nasional (BN) | Tan Sri Datuk Chong Kah Kiat |
|---|
| 2003 | Barisan Nasional (BN) | Datuk Seri Hj. Musa Bin Hj. Aman |
|---|
Sabah consists of five administrative divisions, which are in turn divided into a total of 23 districts.
The population of Sabah was 2,449,389 in the year 2000 (Housing Census of Malaysia, 2000), of which is divided into 32 officially recognized
ethnic groups. The largest non-indigenous ethnic group is the
Chinese, who make up for about 20% of Sabah's population. The largest indigenous ethnic group is the
Kadazan-Dusun (roughly 25% of the total population); followed by the
Bajau (15%), and the
Murut (3%).
Bahasa Malaysia is the national language spoken across ethnicities, although the spoken Sabahan dialect of
Bahasa Malaysia differs much in inflection and intonation from the West Malaysian version, having more similarity in pronunciation to
Indonesian.
English, Chinese
Mandarin as well as the Chinese dialects of
Hakka and
Cantonese are widely understood. In addition,
Kadazan-Dusun,
Bajau,
Murut and other minor races also have distinct ethnic languages.
Dusun-Kadazan people are known as the Latin lovers of the East, famous in the state for love and passion for music. Their traditional dances appear erotic yet innocent making the Dusun-Kadazan culture a popular one.
Even though Dusun-Kadazans are known for their peaceful nature, they are also well known for their bravery and defiant nature towards oppression and foreign rule. Monsopiad the legendary warrior who lived in the 1700's-1800's took 48 heads in the heat of battle before being overwhelmed. During World War 2, the British army liberated North Borneo from the Japanese and released 280 Japanese POW's knowing that the vengeful natives would not show mercy. Those POW's skulls line the roof of Dusun-Kadazan 'skull houses'.
The federal government of Malaysia officially recognizes 28 ethnic groups as being "
indigenous" or
bumiputra in Sabah:
*
Kadazan-Dusun *
Filipino*
Serani (Orang Portuguesa Campur) *
Kwijau *
Murut *
Bajau *
Illanun *
Lotud *
Rungus *
Tambanuo *
Dumpas *
Bugis, (
see Bugis of Sabah)
*
Mangka'ak *
Suluk *
Orang Sungai *
Brunei *
Kedayan *
Bisaya *
Tidong *
Malay *
Indonesian*
Maragang *Sino-campuran
*
Sarawak-indigenes
*Filipina-campuran
*
Orang Cocos *
Paitan *
Ida'an *
Minokok *
Rumanau Unofficially, Sabah is also home to an estimated 700,000 strong
Filipino illegal immigrant population from the Phillipines due to lax immigration controls and poor policing of the Malaysia-Philippines national border. While the local and federal government do not officially recognise the existence of Filipino illegal immigrants, they are widely employed commercially, forming the bulk of manual labour in construction and other sections of commerce. There is a huge settlement of Filipinos at
Pulau Gaya, which has become an example of the incompetence and inefficiency of the policing of Malaysian territories and borders.
See
Demographics of Malaysia for some further details about the population.
Sabah's economy was traditionally heavily
lumber dependent, based on export of tropical timber, but with increasing depletion of the natural forests and ecological efforts to save remaining natural
rainforest areas,
palm oil has emerged as a more sustainable resource. Other agricultural products important in the Sabah economy include
rubber and
cacao.
Tourism is currently the second largest contributor to the economy.
In 1970, Sabah ranked as one of the richest states in the federation, with a per capita GDP second only to Selangor (which then included Kuala Lumpur).
[Outline Perspective of Sabah. Institute for Development Studies (Sabah). URL accessed May 7, 2006.] However, despite its vast wealth of
natural resources, Sabah is currently the poorest of Malaysia's states. Average incomes are now among the lowest in Malaysia, and with a considerably higher
cost of living than in West Malaysia. In 2000, Sabah had an
unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent - the highest of any Malaysian state and almost twice the national average of 3.1 per cent. The state has the highest
poverty level in the country at 16 per cent, more than three times the national average. Part of the problem is the inequitable
distribution of wealth between the State and the Federal government, and large numbers of illegal immigrants from Indonesia, Philippines, even East Timor.
|
The Northern tip of Borneo |
Tourism, particularly
eco-tourism, is a major contributor to the economy of Sabah. The most popular tourist destinations include:
* Tanjung Aru
resort - outside of
Kota Kinabalu, with luxury beach resorts and
Tunku Abdul Rahman Park and the
North Borneo Railway*
Mount Kinabalu - the second highest mountain in
Southeast Asia with an altitude of 4,101 metres (13,455 ft). It is only lower than
Puncak Jaya in
Irian Jaya on the island of
New Guinea,
Indonesia at 4,884 metres.
*
Sandakan - gateway to the
Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary and
Kinabatangan River * Pulau
Sipadan - a famous island for
scuba diving*
Danum Valley Conservation Area - wilderness rainforest
*
Turtle Islands Park - conservation efforts for endangered
sea turtles
*
Gomantong Caves - populated with millions of
swifts and
bats
* The
Northern Tip of BorneoSabah is not known for producing many well-known media figures, but the few it has produced have made their mark. Noteworthy mentions include filmmaker
Tony Francis Gitom, and their many high-placing contestants on local shows
Malaysian Idol and
Akademi Fantasia.
Some films and shows filmed in Sabah include the first season of reality show
Survivor,
The Amazing Race, Eco-Challenge Borneo,
Bat*21, and
Sacred Planet. Sabah's first homegrown film was
Orang Kita, starring
Abu Bakar Ellah.
Sabah's first established newspaper was the
New Sabah Times. The newspaper was founded by
Donald Stephens, who later became the First
Chief Minister of Sabah.
* Gudgeon, L. W. W. 1913.
British North Borneo. Adam and Charles Black, London.
* Chin, Ung-ho. 1999.
'Kataks' , Kadazan-Dusun Nationalism and Development: The 1999 Sabah State Election (Regime Change And Regime Maintenance In Asia And The Pacific Series No 24, Department Of Political And Social Change, Research School Of Pacific And Asian Studies, Australian National University) (ISBN 0731526783)
Footnotes
*
Pulau Gaya*
Sabah Tourism Board*
Daily Express, the local newspaper with the largest circulation in Sabah*
New Sabah Times, Sabah's first newspaper*
Sabah Parks*
Sabah Government*
WWF Heart of Borneo conservation initiative - Information about the Heart of Borneo - 220,000 km
2 of upland montane tropical rainforest, where endangered species such as the orang-utan, rhinoceros and pygmy elephant cling for survival.
