Trouble Brews In Sarawak

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31802, 5 October 1968, Page 24

Trouble Brews In Sarawak

(From DAVID EXEL, N.Z.P.A stall correspondent)

SINGAPORE, Oct. 3. While confrontation in Sabah continues to hold the headlines, another Malaysian territory Sarawak is still simmering with potential trouble.

Elections, scheduled to be held in August last year, have been postponed by a worried Malaysian Alliance Government first until “early 1968,” then until “later this year” and again until “some time in 1969.” The delay so far, has rot given any indication of producing the sort of political miracle which eased internal tensions in Sabah late last year. In that case, a political group known as “U.P.K.0.” was the problem—under the leadership of Dato Donald Stephens, it was demanding unacceptable political and economic terms from the Federal Government in Kuala Lumpur. In December, however, Dato Stephens dissolved his party and urged everyone to “work for the good of Malaysia.” Dato Stephens is now Malaysian Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand. The situation in Sabah a year ago has some similarities—and major differences—to the Sarawak political brew at the present time.

Dato Shephens’s “U.P.K.0.” is parallelled by a political party known as “S.N.A.P.” (the Sarawak National Party), led by a former Chief Minister, Dato Stephen Ningkan. Dato Ningkan, whom Tunku Abdul Rahman has frequently termed “irresponsible,” was removed from his post as Chief Minister in 1966, and has since been a fervent critic of Kuala Lumpur policies. The easy solution to this particular sector of Sarawak’s political problems would be to “buy off” Dato Ningkan, whose long battle against Malay - oriented Government has made him something of a folk hero to the Sarawak Ibans, the largest indigenous racial group. Unfortunately for the Federal Government, Dato Ningkan has shown considerable reluctance to fade from the political scene. There is nothing to indicate that he can be coaxed either to leave politics or to return to a proAlliance stance. Although Dato Ningkan is not yet overly anti-Malaysia, his party slogan of “Sarawak for the Sarawakians” produces a nervous response from the Federal Malaysian Government and from the minority group of Malays who control political power in Sarawak itself. Perhaps a more serious threat to Malaysian stability —certainly one that is less amenable to easy solution—-

is the continued opposition in Sarawak of “S.U.P.P.' (the Sarawak United Peoples Party), which represents the bulk of the Chinese population and is alleged to be “Communist infiltrated.” Occasional S.U.P.P. statements have called flatly for the dissolution of Malaysia. Mostly, however, the leader-, ship contents Itself with demanding greater autonomy for the State and (unvoiced) a greater share in political control by the Chinese who form the State’s largest single racial group. The racial factor is the basis for much of the “Sarawak problem.” The Malay-oriented Government in Kuala Lumpur is dealing with a State in which Malays (160,000) are outnumbered by Chinese (300,000) and Ibans (270,000). Of the Chinese in Sarawak, Professor C. P. Fitzgerald—a leading world authority on overseas Chinese communities has commented: “The Sarawak Chinese . . . foresaw that in a country such as Sarawak, where the majority of the non-Chinese were tribes-people, still primitive or backward in their social development, the Chinese would easily dominate the political life of a self-govern-ing, independent, Sarawak. “The Chinese expected to inherit, in due course, the position they had earned. Instead, they found themselves clamped into Malaysia, politically dominated by Kuala Lumpur and its Malay-oriented Government.”

The serious lack of unconditional support for Federal Malaysian policies in Sara-

wak is indicated by the seven “district council” by-elections held in the last 18 months. The Sarawak alliance—State counterpart to the Federal Government—has lost every one. On five occasions it has been defeated by S.N.A.P. and on the other two by S.U.P.P. In the most recent by-elec-tion., the S.N.A.P. candidate received 402 votes to his Alliance opponent’s 24. Violence in Sarawak, which reached a high pitch during Indonesian confrontation, has subsided in recent months, although various districts are still occasionally subject to curfew orders. Communist influence remains at a high level among the Chinese community and, as long as Dato Ningkan remains disgrimtled with Federal policies, there seems little chance of wooing Ibans back into a comfortable proMalaysia fold. The loyalties of the people of Sabah perhaps paradoxically are being strengthened by the Filipino claim to the Malaysian territory. Indonesian confrontation, felt most heavily in Sarawak, did not have the same desirable side-effect The development programme of the pro-Alliance Government in Sarawak is marred by considerable inefficiency and some corruption, adding to the optimism of opposition parties. It would be foolishly pessimistic to predict the likelihood of an eventual breakaway from Malaysia of Sarawak. But it would be equally foolish to pretend that major political threats do not. exist.