NUEVAS TAREAS

The insincerity of Malay-led federal and state government to solve the problem of illegal immigrants has ignited a feeling of insecurity among not only local political leaders but also the non-Muslim communities in general, especially the non-Muslim indigenous groups. They have begun to realize that their economic, social and political rights have been compromised as the federal leaders preferred ‘new citizens’ over its own bonafide citizens (Sadiq, 2005), in order to make the new citizens their political allies in their effort to implement and later consolidate Ketuanan Melayu

(Malay hegemony) and in more recent times Ketuanan Islam (Muslim Supremacy)86_,

prioritizing the new citizens over the original inhabitants of Sabah.

The federal government was said to prefer the new citizens because they strengthened the Muslim political influence in Sabah (based on selected interviews with key informants). Studies have indicated that the link between cross-border migration and political activities in Sabah has strengthened Muslim political influence in the territory. Sadiq (2005), Mutalib (1999), and Wan Sawaluddin, Ramli and Ahmad (2012), for example, argued that the immigrants had an enormous influence over the politics of Sabah, and more broadly the politics of Malaysia. Most importantly, the immigrants who were granted IC through Project IC admitted that they participated actively in the politics of the country by repeatedly casting their votes in each election from the 1980s. They also admitted that they had never voted for any other political party than the BN and its component parties. According to one ‘new citizen’, “of course yes, why not. We have participated in the politics of Malaysia. We are the strong supporters of the Barisan National (BN) and we never once voted the political party that opposed the BN. This is how we show our gratitude to the BN government who have given us IC”. He even pointed out that the number of their population in Sabah is significant. He said, “I can confirm to you that the number of our people in this state is significant...probably more than 20 percent of the total population of Sabah” (interview with a key respondent on May 1st, 2014 in Lahad Datu).

The presence of a large number of new citizens or instant citizens of Malaysia created strong dissatisfaction towards Malay-Muslim leaders at both federal and

86 _{See Chin (2014b, p. 83)}

179

local level and the natives of Sabah began to oppose any Malay-Muslim leaders’ effort to further strengthen the Malay-Muslim domination. The natives’ objection over Malay-Muslim domination of Sabah’s politics is shown by their strong protest against Islamization of the indigenous peoples and until today most of them have refused to identify themselves as Malay. One interviewee said, “being Muslim does not necessarily means that we are Malays. In fact, many Islamized Kadazans, especially those who were forced to convert into Islam during Mustapha and Harris eras even have never practiced Islam in their life and do not speak Malay fluently” (interview with key respondent of this study on February 28th_{, 2014 in Tuaran).}

The non-Muslim natives objected to the proposal of Bungsu @ Aziz Jafar, the Sabah’s Mufti (an Islamic Scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic Law,

the shariah and fiqh). He urged the conversion of natives and the labeling of Sabah’s

bumiputra Muslims as Malays. This proposal was announced by Bungsu in his

speech before a thousand people in a symposium titled Mendepani Agenda Asing (Facing the Foreign Agenda, MEGA) held on September 28, 201387. Their objection captured the sentiments of the natives against further strengthening of Malay-Muslim domination in Sabah. Their unwillingness to be identified as Malays stood in contrast to the new citizens who enjoyed the label Malays and supported the Malaysia state as they benefited from Malaysia’s rapid growth. The native objectors made their objection clear through a press conference held by Darrel Leiking, a Member of Parliament for Penampang on September 30, 2013. On behalf of the non-Muslim natives, he said:

87 _{The symposium was jointly organized by Muslim no-government organizations (NGOs) Ikatan}

Muslimin Malaysia (Malaysian Muslim Solidarity, ISMA) and Persatuan Belia Islam Nasional (Malaysian Muslim Youth Organization, PEMBINA) in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

180

I express regret over the Malaynization proposal mooted by the Sabah Mufti Ustaz Bungsu @ Aziz Jafar at a symposium at Putrajaya recently, as the latter had claimed that many indigenous Muslims in Sabah still refuse to call themselves Malay. My stand is very clear on this matter. Sabah agreed to form Malaysia together with peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Sarawak for security, economic prosperity, development, better education and healthcare and not in any way to become another Malay-majority state in the federation. Let’s take ethnic group A that has an equal ratio of Muslims and non-Muslims as an example. Would it make sense if a program to Malayanise the Muslims within ethnic A take place considering their language and hereditary customs are totally different from the Malays in peninsular Malaysia? It is understandable for the mufti to say that the Javanese and Bugis in the peninsula now refer to themselves as Malays since these three ethnic groups share the same language and hereditary customs but I don’t think Dusun and Murut ethnics in Sabah do” (Leiking, 2013, September 30).

The indigenous peoples of Sabah since the 1980s have persistently tried to show their support as Malaysian citizens and to gain greater impact in Malaysian politics. This was noticeable between 1960 and 1990 when Donald Stephens and Pairin Kitingan attempted to unite all non-Muslim indigenous people and elevate their social status by using ethnic labels such as Kadazan, Kadazandusun or KadazanDusunMurut. Although the non-Muslim indigenous peoples’ political influence has been eroded systematically due to the significant increase in the size of Malay-Muslim population, in particular the legalized Malay Muslim immigrants, political activities in Sabah have becomes more ethnic based and more ethno-religious based.

5.6 Change in the Relationship between the Non-Muslims and the Malay-