GPS, which has been governing Sarawak for the past 56 years, appeared to have pulled a master stroke when it got the constitution (amendment) bill – or commonly referred to as the MA63 agreement, which is the political game in town for politicians in Sarawak and Sabah – approved in Parliament recently.

In 2019, GPS abstained from voting on a similar or comparative bill tabled by the Pakatan Harapan government, citing the following reasons:

• The bill did not detail the enforcement of equal partnership in substance and form, including ensuring a third of parliamentary seats and a third of national resources,
• The amendment’s exclusion of a third of the annual financial allocation to Sarawak, considering that Sarawak was one of the biggest contributors to national revenue, demonstrated that the federal government “lacked sincerity”.

Was there anything different between the amendment bill tabled back in 2019 and the latest bill, which was tabled and approved within six weeks, aside from mere cosmetic amendments?

Did the approved amendment bill address the two issues above cited by GPS for its abstention?

The passing of the bill two days before the election in Sarawak obviously contributed significantly to GPS retaining its supermajority as it gives the perception to Sarawak folk that they are shielded by GPS.

It has shown that it is becoming more assertive, after being pushed around at the whim of ethnocentric Malay politicians, while championing the rights of Sarawak folk, who have been calling for fair treatment from the federal government.

Now that GPS is returned to power and with a supermajority, Sarawak folk – who had hoped for fair treatment from the federal government – will again be disappointed.

Politicians from GPS and the BN/PN ruling coalition will continue to play the perception game, which they have been playing for the last 56 years.

Things are likely to remain the same with minimal changes. Sarawak folk will continue to be deluged with a flood of truths, half truths and lies swimming in oceanic corruption.

GPS will continue to make the necessary noises, eg, reports will be issued saying most Sarawak folk are “satisfied” with the current level of autonomy.

With the total obliteration of the political party that championed the call for secession at the polls, this call is likely to fizzle out unnoticed.

People calling for secession should be well aware that the political class on the peninsula will never accept it because they never felt Sarawak to be alien in identity, more like wayward cousins.

If they let one region go, others might be next.

Globally, there have been approximately 400 secessionist movements recorded in history over the past 200 years, of which only about 60 are still active.

The number that have won independence is not more than the five fingers on our hands. Many fade away and some movements cease in a violent manner.

People calling for secession, citing Kosovo and Rhodesia as an example, should take heed of the economic loss and costs to the cities of Montreal in the province of Quebec and Barcelona in the region of Catalonia.

Both cities hosted the Olympics, with same population and contribute substantially to their nation’s GDP.

Both were important centres of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture and world affairs.

However, the provinces in which they are located, Quebec and Catalonia respectively, were more interested in passion politics than productivity.

Montreal lost several decades of growth to the city of Toronto and Vancouver, which have become Canada’s prosperous cities.

In Barcelona, businesses relocated their headquarters out of the city during the height of the calls for secession by the provincial government of Catalonia few years ago.

In a 2018 ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute public opinion survey on East Malaysians’ perspectives on federal-state relationship, identity/religion, education/language and selected current issues, the survey found strong support across all demographic groups in Sarawak for greater autonomy for the state, particularly in the areas of economic development, exploitation of natural resources, and education.

However, as the above survey only sampled 803 respondents – who were interviewed via fixed-line and mobile phones – how large is the population of 2.6 million actually a shared collective consciousness and a desire to be self-governed, either with further political autonomy or full independence?

Even though the total population in Sarawak is less than 10% of the national population, it is one of the top contributors to the national GDP.

Yet more than 40% of the people in Sarawak are still living in rural areas, lacking basic facilities and infrastructure namely education, healthcare, connectivity, electricity and piped water supply.

Economically, Sarawak is overtaxed. This is pretty obvious to see in things like infrastructure and financial aid, with the excuse that Sarawak is a rich region and therefore it should give away more than it receives in order to aid poorer states.

The results of this policy are questionable and that there is no way for Sarawak to have a say in the matter because taxation is controlled by the federal government, which means that whatever negotiations or proposals are made, they may be stricken down by other political parties on the peninsula.

Thus, GPS cannot fundamentally or capable enough to change or revise the current economic model, which has been in practice for the past 57 years, within a short period of time.

Any attempts by GPS to direct public attention away from domestic issues to fair treatment from the federal government would only harm Sarawak’s own interests.

The system at the root of Sarawak’s economy has not and will not change in any way. Indulging in this game means GPS could potentially miss future opportunities to address its own problems and the people of Sarawak will have to pay the price.

Thus, instead of entertaining the idea of secession or waiting for the federal government to address the inequitable distribution of wealth back to Sarawak, the people of Sarawak should demand GPS politicians push for complete financial autonomy, where Sarawak will collect its own taxes and remit less tax to federal government.

Moving away from its current economic structure, which is largely export-orientated and primary commodities dominated, connectivity will be the key and engine for growth for Sarawak folk for years to come.

Sarawak has been left behind during the industrialisation of the country where majority of the development has been concentrated on the peninsula. Will this time be different?

The world is currently experiencing a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.

In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.

No government in the world can tell you how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: if the government is for the welfare of the people, GPS must respond to the challenge in an integrated and comprehensive way, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society regardless of where and who they are.

In the future, talent, more than capital, will represent the critical factor of production.

In September 2021, the government of Sarawak announced that 90% of areas in the state will be equipped with high-speed internet service through the Sarawak multimedia authority linking urban, rural and nation (Saluran) initiative by next year.

With complete financial autonomy, Sarawak will be able to invest, improve and continuously improve on its digital infrastructure, presently monopolised by Sacofa, to include covering all its interiors.

Connectivity is critical if Sarawak folk are to develop every part of their land no matter how interior or remote.

No matter how dedicated Sarawakians are in embracing digital knowledge, the application of such knowledge will be impossible if they could not get a stable internet line everywhere.

So far, it appears that Sarawak still lags behind in several indicators essential for a successful digital revolution. Talent is one of them.

Without attempts to move beyond existing models of innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital growth, businesses in Sarawak risks falling further behind, exacerbating the digital divide and lowering its competitiveness.

Accordingly, Sarawakians should push for GPS to relax their home crafted objective of ‘Borneonisation’ of the workforce and talent so that Sarawak can attract skilled international talent.

In all honesty, there is currently a tremendous gap between the demand and supply for talent in specialist areas in the digital economy, given the inability of companies to train professionals for these important roles.

Employing talents from overseas will help to solve this issue partially.

Will the hornbill be able to fly to its desired heights and reign over the homeland? That lies in the hands of all parties, including those that adorn their emblems with the picture of this magnificent bird. – December 20, 2021.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.