She's 'enormous' in size and in influence
Lately, Sabah being one of the biggest contributors of both state and parliamentary seats to the ruling coalition, has been labelled as their fixed deposit but ironically Sabah remains as among the poorest states in Malaysia despite being blessed with abundant of natural resources. Perhaps due to its dire economic state, local leaders have no other choice apart from following and bending towards the whims and pleasure of their bosses in Kuala Lumpur.
Instead of manipulating its status as the ruling coalition's fixed deposit to gain more authority and control of the day to day management of the state, our leaders are seen as weaklings. As compared to Sarawak, which is another of the ruling coalition's fixed deposit, their leaders are seen more capable of turning the table towards the state's advantages. So far, Sarawak is the best example of Borneonisation in line with the Malaysia Agreement.
Perhaps it is due to the fact that they have the longest thus most experienced Chief Minister of more than 20 years and still going strong. Compared to Sabah, they are good examples where everything related to their state are guarded ever so strongly. This may be a naive observation from a green horn and an outsider but we can see abundance of evidences supporting the claim that the Sarawakians are far better than Sabahans in standing firm for their rights.
One clear example is how stringent the Sarawak government in conferring state honours particularly to outsiders whoever they are or how powerful they may be. Recently, the Sarawak's Head of State conferred only the third highest honours to the Prime Minister's wife. Being the Prime Minister's wife is no guarantee of her being conferred with the highest award unlike Sabah which rushed to confer the highest award to her last year in a special ceremony. Conferring the state honours is the prerogative of the Head of State but there must be stringent and strict procedures to be done or carried out before conferring such honours to anyone . By the way, what did DSP Rosmah Mansur do to deserve the highest state accolade? This is important to maintain the prestige of such awards since such symbolised the state's image and dignity.
However, since the hands of politics are crawling everywhere we have political figures dominating most of the awards particularly those of higher prestige. In fact, in Sabah we have the joke that if we throw a stone it is bound to hit a Datuk! It is indeed degrading but probably it is true particularly years ago where political ties command almost everything and such title brings together lucrative benefits. That is why people are desperate and willing to pay just to have a title before their names, though they know that such title may not be genuine or its prestige is doubtful.
Instead of awarding the politicians, the state should instead confer such accolade to more deserving people like former teachers or even in service teachers for they actually contributed to the society.
However, looking at the current situation , teachers seem to be sidelined except for high ranking ones like the Director. Sabah seem to favour politicians rather than those unsung heroes amidst us since these figures are busy helping and contributing to the society without proclaiming or announcing their deeds unlike politicians. Figures like the late John Gaisah, Kelly Tham, Justin Ganai, Matin Guntali and the late Mohd Ali bin Kandalis, a local leader who was responsible in propagating Islam in Ranau are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to contribution to the society.They are more deserving than those one-term YBs or Ketua Bahagians out there!
Hopefully, the new Head of State though a politician himself will be more sensitive in safeguarding the prestige of the state awards. It is the right time to emulate our neighbouring state which has done far better in safeguarding its interest and at the same time 'importing' local figures to the peninsular like the Mufti of Perlis, Dr. Juanda Jaya and a former Director General of Education, Datuk Matnor Daim. We need to appreciate contributions of those deserving figures rather than spreading the awards like flushing the toilets!
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