LETTER | I am impressed by the young people in Sabah. Spoke to some of my Sabah acquaintances, neither apolitical nor political, they opt to take a stance in between. Despite the political fatigue and prevailing turmoil, they are well aware and concern about the current development stage of the state.

“To be honest, the Sabahan are disappointed. Sabah today is heading nowhere, regardless of who emerged to be the winner in Sabah. What we want is development and what is deserved to be ours, not only 20 percent. What is taken by Peninsular Malaysia from us, should be given back to us.”

This sounds so surreal.

In the past few weeks, water supply disruption issue in Klang Valley has sparked a virtual political satire between West Malaysia and East Malaysia. Viral of cold jokes in social media has reflected an underlining asymmetrical sphere of unity between the two sides of the country.

“Orang Selangor nak air tak? Kami dkt Sarawak nak jual 1 Litre RM4 postage free seluruh Malaysia kecuali Semenanjung Malaysia.”

When it rains, it pours. The sluggish economy in Malaysia is a double whammy when the substantial impacts from Covid-19 in late 2019 has prevail until today. Yet the people’s unity, especially between the rakyat from the Peninsular and East Malaysia, has always been used as one the most powerful political yardsticks jeopardised in the political arena. 

Left alone the tangible measures taken, the prime minister’s announcement on the establishment of a new Malaysia Agreement (MA63) committee council is even seen as a carrot and stick approach to the Sabah people.

What is genuinely needed by Malaysians is the cultivation of unity from the grassroots level. Political will should be discriminated and people’s representatives ought to listen to the voices from the ground. 

There is a need for the government to scrutinise effective communication strategies to disseminate information and instil good values among the people in order to enthuse the zest for unity among one another. The mix demography and multiracial background of the nation have provided a fertile ground for bigots to spew racist messages, and social media has become a cesspit filled with racially fueled information that disintegrates the nation’s unity.

With regard to this, not to speak of prioritising economic and social development in Sabah and Sarawak, there is an urgency to scrutinise the preferential policies. The fragmented understanding among West and East Malaysia could be bridged, if the preferential policies could highlight more on the holistic cultural and social comprehension rather than ethnic and religion. 

Affirmative action in education - in the form of preferential admissions, scholarships and exclusive bumiputera programmes and institutions - has played a vital role in expanding access at the postsecondary and tertiary levels to Malays and other bumiputera groups. 

Hence, rather than magnifying racial composition, the mix demography of people can be buffered under this policy. The execution of curricular and co-curricular exchange programme to be made compulsory as early as in school level helps in reducing the gap among our children from West and East Malaysia.

I believe many of the young people out there have their first experience in East Malaysia during their tertiary education and same goes to the young in East Malaysia. Why don’t we initiate their early exposure and cultivate a sense of belonging to everyone as Malaysian? 

On top of that, an in-depth evaluation assessment needs to be conducted among civil servants and educators from West Malaysia who are posted in East Malaysia and vice versa. Longitudinal research should be carried out precisely to understand what are the real circumstances. They play a role as ambassadors to connect the two pieces of land in our country. Their experience is valuable to be heard.

Education is key. Children are a plain white cloth. They are what we want them to be. The significance of Malaysia Day should be instilled into the blood, telling them how this piece of land is taken back from the colonial with sweat, blood and devastation. 

Low knowledge on the MA63 was reported in a survey by Merdeka Centre (2016) that, more than 75 percent of the people have either not knowing much about MA63 or have no idea at all. This result is disheartening as it shows a gap among Malaysians as a whole. 

Looking at the spirit of Australia in making the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (AnZac Day) as a tool of unity in the education system in early childhood should be a benchmark for our country. This should be incorporated in the education system as early as early childhood and primary education so that children are well aware of the history and civic education.

To conclude, pluralistic sentiments linger in the background of Malaysia’s economic policy and ethnic redistribution should be dodged in order to achieve a genuine state of unity. 

Our country has just celebrated the National day and Malaysia day. The new Malaysia era in the past two years has undergone a real shift in the political environment that allows more open discussion of issues and circulation of criticism around the civil society. 

Many Malaysian had great hopes and expectations after the GE14 wave and take a leap of faith in the new governance, believing that they will perform differently and do things much better than before. 

Therefore, political developments of the country should be sliding towards the polarisation of uniting the people and not politics based on power, race and religion. 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.