If this was going to be true, the Malaysian Bornean state of Sabah would create a history by having its first deputy prime minister in the form of Yong Teck Lee.

According to a list of “upcoming Malaysian cabinet” released by God knows who, Yong would be one of the three deputy prime ministers and he would be in charge of Sabah and Sarawak. The prime minister is of course Anwar Ibrahim.

There was no deputy ministers yet in the line-up. Now compare that to the present Malaysian cabinet. Which one do you think is better?

Quote of the day: “It’s easier to sack two MPs than a party with only two MPs.”

That was what political analyst Khoo Kay Peng said about why he did not believe that the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council, which would meet at 4pm tomorrow, Aug 6, would sack its renegade component party, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).

You think SAPP will get the sack?

“If you sack SAPP, it would upset the political equilibrium in Sabah.

“Moreover, you have to bear in mind that it is an open secret that the SAPP’s demand appeals to most Sabahans. They may not like the SAPP, but they share its sentiment,” said Khoo. [Source]

If it has been easy to resolve, Sabah’s illegal immigrant problems would have been resolved by now.

If the political will has been strong to resolve the issue, we won’t be cancered by the problem.

But what was once an easy problem to tackle, has become so difficult to overcome because of a number of reasons. Here are the 12 reasons for the worsening illegal immigrants problem in Sabah:

#01. The tidak apa attitude among the powers-that-be in the past to resolve the problem;

#02. We — the people of Sabah and the authorities — allowed the problem to take root in our beloved state;

#03. Some quarters did benefit from the presence of illegal immigrants and had tried all they could to perpetuate the problem;

#04. The failure of our neighbour to develop their own backyard. Imagine if the southern areas of our neighbour were more developed, it would be us who would be coming to their country;

#05. Sabah is still claimed as part of the Philippines — a claim which is no longer valid, legally or morally.

#06. A large number of immigrants, who used to be illegals, managed to obtain citizenship either through merit or chicanery. This, in turn, encouraged their brethren to come to Sabah in droves and boatloads;

#07: There is a genuine lack of capacity on the part of the authorities to deal with the problem;

#08: Corruption, deception, treachery…

#09: Did someone say the illegal immigrants were given genuine IC on purpose so that they could return the favour in certain ways determined by the giver?

#10: Their numbers have grown so drastically that it seems it is no longer wrong to become illegals in Sabah. It has become a norm, a natural thing, due to a prolonged state of ignorance.

#11: The deterrent measures put in place are just like putting scarecrows in vast padi fields. I ain’t afraid of those, says the crow.

#12: Etcetra… I can think of a dozen other reasons but what’s the point? What’s the point if nothing is done to resolve the issue.

In the meantime, here’s a latest report on the issue, from a foreign media’s point of view. From The Associated Press via The IHT:

Malaysia threatens mass expulsion of illegal immigrants amid political dispute
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia’s government announced plans Wednesday to chase out tens of thousands of illegal immigrants, mainly Filipinos and Indonesians, who have become a major political irritant on Borneo island.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said authorities will soon launch a massive operation to flush out foreigners without travel or identification documents from eastern Sabah state, which borders both the Philippines and Indonesia.

“We will deport them to the country that is willing to accept them,” Najib was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama. He said immigrants who have lived unlawfully in Sabah since the 1970s would not be spared.

His aides could not immediately be reached for further details.

Authorities recently estimated there are some 130,000 illegal immigrants in Sabah. But the state’s politicians insist the real figure is several times that, and claim that foreigners outnumber Malaysians in some provinces.

The issue has long been a bitter grievance for Sabah politicians, who accuse the federal government of failing to oust job-seeking foreigners after their permits expire.

Top government leaders have stepped up efforts to resolve the problem amid speculation that many Sabah lawmakers planned to defect to the opposition because of dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration.

Although Sabah has vast natural resources, such as timber, it is one of Malaysia’s poorest states. Some residents blame this on large numbers of migrants whose presence means fewer available jobs.

I was once a part-time reporter with a national newspaper. Back then, and still is, they call part-time reporters “stringers”, although none of their job involves stringing strings (for want of a better pun).

That was in the early 90′s and Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan was still the Sabah Chief Minister and Datuk Yong Teck Lee his deputy, if my memory serves me right.

Seri Bersatu assignment

Sometime in 1993, I was assigned to cover an event at Seri Bersatu, Pairin’s residence in Luyang near Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Sabah.

I could not remember what exactly the event was — it might have been a Harvest Festival celebration or a Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) anniversary, but I remember there was partying, and singing, and the food was great.

Biar kau menjadi lilin

I still remember Datuk Lawrence Gimbang was singing “Biarku Menjadi Lilin” that night and did quite a nice rendition of the song.

Well, it wasn’t great — as Simon Cowell would have put it — but it wasn’t terrible. Now we know from whom Rich of Akadami Fantasia got his singing talent.

Calling it the blues

I also remember the sharp, stinging and definitive sound of an electric guitar in the hands of Datuk Hassan Alban Sandukong, who was Sabah Legislative Assembly Speaker at the time, again if my memory serves me right –  about Alban’s post, I mean; not the guitar.

I remember the guitar well because guitar-playing politician was quite a sight for me — the greenhorn stringer — back then.

Hassan Alban is no Eric Clapton but man, he can still play the blues.

And then there was Young Turk Lee

Then there was Yong, the then PBS Deputy President, whom we — the reporters — bumped into while filling our plates with food. He greeted us and told us how great the party was.

Something in the way he said it

But there was something else he said that night that is flooding back to me now like an old dream.

I guess, we, the reporters, must have remarked about the food and had probably asked him if he had taken his. He told us that he in fact had, and that he was just walking around “to get an idea how to make a party”.

That was many more months before he finally made the party and it had nothing to do with playing guitar or singing about becoming a candle. His party is called Parti Maju Sabah or Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).

… to be continued (but can’t promise when)

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), a Sabah-based component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional, said today it had lost confidence in Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

In the coming sitting of the Parliament session on Monday, its two Members of Parliament will support a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister, the party said. [Further details in The Star].

Up to you to decide whether the Typhoon Sapp is indeed a typhoon or just a storm in the teacup.

“Whether its MPs table the vote of no confidence, or whether other MPs will do it, would be determined in due course,” the party said in a statement.

In the meantime, the Sanglang state seat in Perlis has been declared vacant by an election court. Meaning there is going to could be a by-election. The seat was won by Barisan Nasional in the March 8 general election.

Alternatively, the Election Commission can just declare the other candidate, from Pas, as the winner.

So it’s going to be just like in the song, dari Perlis sampailah ke Sabah… at least for today lah.

Forget Bigfoot. We have already call their bluff. It’s time to prepare for the storm, politically, which have been brewing in Sabah in the past few weeks that even the goodies announced on Harvest Festival Day failed to lighten up the sky.

Word has it that the storm, which this blog shall call Typhoon Sapp, will finally hit tomorrow.

As of tonight there was no information as to the severity of the storm but political meteorologists said it was set to uproot trees and send rooftops flying in the air.

Watch out for June 18 and listen to the political weather forecast around 3pm. It could well be Category 4 political storm. Or, maybe just a storm in a teacup.

Borneo Blog will try to bring you the news from 2.30pm tomorrow.

Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional chairman will meet Sabah leaders soon.

I guess the PM would want to thank Sabah for being there when the BN needed them most.

He would likely commend the state for being such a strong BN supporter, and that there would be time when their loyalty can be appropriately rewarded.

Not sidelining Sabah interest

He would tell them perhaps that, “Kita faham juga bahawasanya ramai pemimpin dan rakyat Sabah berpandangan bahawa Sabah dan begitu juga di Sarawak, perlu diberi perwakilan yang lebih bermakna dalam barisan kabinet.

“Kita faham sentimen ini tetapi ingin juga saya jelaskan di sini bahawa kita sama sekali tidak mengetepikan kepentingan Sabah dalam pelantikan kabinet baru-baru ini. Kita mengamalkan perkongsian kuasa bukan sahaja di peringkat parti tetapi juga di negeri-negeri dan perlantikan baru-baru ini ada kait-mengait dengan perkara ini. Ini perlu difahami oleh semua supaya kita dapat melakukan yang terbaik untuk semua.

“Kita mahu mempastikan bahawasanya tiada satu pun negeri yang ketinggalan. Itulah dasar pelantikan kabinet baru-baru ini.”

[TRANSLATION: "We can also understand that Sabah leadership and the Sabah people are of the opinion Sabah, as well as Sarawak, deserves a more meaningful representation in the cabinet.

"We can understand this sentiment, however, I would also like to emphasis that we have taken into account the interest of the state in the recent cabinet appointments. This is Barisan Nasional and in BN we practise power sharing not only among component parties but also among states. This has been the spirit behind the recent cabinet appointments. I think it's important that we understand this, that we want the best for everyone.

"We want to make sure that the interests of other states are taken care of and that has been the spirit of the recent cabinet appointments."]

Dependable ally of the coalition

And then Sabah leaders would understand and like a dependable friend, they would forgive and forget and would mention no more of the issue of better cabinet representation from Sabah.

Nice people

Sabahans, as I know them, are nice people; sometimes they almost can’t bring themselves to hurt others, especially their friends.

You can abuse them many times over because their level of tolerance is high.

You can take them for granted and they will almost certainly remain loyal to you and when the time comes for you to need them, you just need to ask and you can almost be certain that they will be there for you.

One thing they are not

One thing Sabahans are not, however. They are not built to take abuse indefinitely.