What do Umno members do and where do they turn to if they are ‘squeezed politically’? The answer is, to the people called the Malays. Of course, in Sabah we are not that familiar with this reference. But as far as Umno is concerned it’s too significant a fallback to be left behind.

As a good example, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has even emphasised he is Malay first, Malaysian second. If that doesn’t mean anything, what does?

Since its very existence, Umno’s political survival rests on the Malay race under the pretext of ‘looking after the Malays’, except today Malays come in a variety of forms. In other words, looks and how they came about doesn't matter.

The Malaysian police are made to go around to ensure that it is not too obvious that this wayang is in play

Here is the process of creating the Malay race in Sabah:

Over the years, Sabah is the manufacturing ground for this ‘Malay race’. Because of its close proximity with neighbouring countries namely southern Philippines (Sulu) in the east and Celebes island of Indonesia in the south.

Sabahans in general don’t dispute any ethnicity of those who legally become Sabahans through proper established procedures, and not by sneaking into the state, through a system created by Mahathir also known as Project IC.

The ‘projects’ were the cause of landmark changes in the demography of Sabah, and resulted in irreversible damage.

The projects enabled undocumented illegal immigrants to become legal in the 1990s. It started with 1.5 million people of whom half were given genuine Malaysian identity cards, while the rest by dubious means.

Legalising Muslim illegal immigrants is the strategy to increase the number of people called the ‘Malay race’. They are made to support Umno in order for Umno to remain dominant in the country. Just watch if any Umno leaders dispute this: Sabah saw a population growth rate of 300 percent from 2.6 million in 2000 to 3.1 million in 2010.

Why resistance to RCI?

Umno leaders will never agree to conduct the Royal Commission of Inquiry as demanded by Sabahans to resolve the issue of Sabah’s illegal immigrant problems. Memorandum after memorandum has been sent to federal leaders, but forgotten soon after the handshakes.

The latest was SAPP, who submitted thousands of signatures from a signature drive to Parliament, yet none of federal leaders were perturbed over it.

The general public feels the reasons federal leaders refuse to address the issue because it will:

  • Uncover the wrongdoing that they have been hiding; sure big embarrassment to the leaders.
  • Their wrongdoings may even be considered treasonous to the country
  • They need to spend money to put things in order.

Not wanting to conduct an RCI means allowing the continuation of a manufactured Malay race.

Equally puzzling is the function of BN component parties that are supposed to represent the interest of Sabahans. One Malaysian scholar who works for the federal government when asked, replied, “your representatives are the puppets of Umno”.

And of late Ibrahim Ali with his Perkasa functions as the barking dog of Umno leaders, whilst the daily Utusan Malaysia is the leash with which they lead Perkasa along.

Sometimes the dog barks up the wrong tree and sometimes it barks at the wrong time; but it doesn’t matter as long as it barks. Ibrahim Ali doings more harm than good for this country.

For as long as Umno in power, the leaders are forever creating the unthinkable for the sake of maintaining power.

Amde Sidik is a citizen journalist and deputy president of SAPP.