Winners and losers of Lahad Datu

Sabah's 3.5million inhabitants consist of about 50 different groups of races and ethnicities. The majority being the Kadazan-Dusun making up 18% of the population, followed by the Bajaus (14%), Brunei Malays (5%) and Murut (3%) who emigrated from Sarawak. The Suluks/Tausugs who are in the limelight now are part of the minorities who originated from the Philippines.

While the Kadazan-Dusuns are the ones who can claim themselves as the real natives of Sabah and are in the majority, they have been very accommodating, tolerant and peace loving people. They can withstand the plundering of the State’s wealth by their politicians and the crony timber tycoons. The Kadazan-Dusuns don't even seem to mind that their state government can allow so many people to come in and fight for jobs with them.

The other groups appear to be just as nonchalant, carrying on with their daily lives. And despite many differences in beliefs, religion, culture, dialects and languages, they all can co-exist peacefully. Even trouble when it comes is usually confined to an individual group or community.

However in the case of the Suluks, they are a bit different; they are rough and provocative and many say the opposite in nature to the Kadazan-Dusun who are more refined. On the whole, if there is one aspect of the socio-racial interaction in Sabah that is a bit weak, it would be the common dislike for the Suluks amongst most of the Sabahans.

The Suluks are also known to be vindictive and they have family feuds that last for generations over trivial matters. It is not surprising that the Suluks will kill each other over a financial dispute of RM60.

Since there are more than 50 different groups of people in Sabah,  their general consensus is not easy to gauge. While the Kadazan-Dusun supports business and progress, the rest do not have any real stance. This is where money comes in handy in moulding public opinions in Sabah. Most of the Sabahans would happily vote BN for RM30 to RM50; however, they do not seem to have the same aptitude for taking bribes to vote for others.

How do Sabahans really feel about the Lahad Datu intrusions

Since the Lahad Datu intrusion, the dislike felt for the Suluks by the rest of Sabah has been amplified at least two folds. To their fellow Sabahans, the Suluks have always been trouble makers and the incursion just proves it so. Now that the entire nation knows that as well, it won't be surprising that there will be an exodus of Suluks illgela immigrants fleeing back to the Philippines soon.

However, Lahad Datu has also created a feeling of insecurity amongst those Suluks who are bona fide citizens of Sabah. Like the Japanese community in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Horbour, they are caught in the middle.

It is no wonder that they are among the ones who had hoped Prime Minister Najib Razak could have killed all the 200 intruders sooner if not on the first day of the attack itself and without triggering any loss of lives amongst our security forces.

Sad to say, Najib was not considering public safety or even national security, he was more interested in turning the intrusion to his own advantage even at the expense of innocent lives! At the most, Najib and his cousin Hishamuddin Hussein were simply incompetent!

This is why the majority of have mixed feelings with some not caring at all what happens at Lahad Datu. Those who are poor already have many other daily problems to worry about and could not care less who dies and who rules the state; This group will still stay the same; i.e  poor and neglected.

Business as usual for the majority

It is the small group of educated and politically aware who are worried about what's going on in Lahad Datu. More importantly, they want redress over the Project I.C and the economy. Like the bona fide Suluks, they had hoped that Najib would take a swift action.

Now that RMAF jets have already bombed the area, they seem to have no more complaints and have accepted what Najib had done, as good enough if not commendable.

In the past month, Sabahans have seen soldiers everywhere in the affected area and they are relieved. They are not worried about the remaining Sulu stragglers. What more trouble can these cause. After all, the vast majority of Sabahans have been facing various hardships since the day they were born.

And to be frank, the latest intrusion is but the umpteenth time that armed foreigners have come into Sabah to create trouble! It's just that this batch was 'unfortunate'.

The Sabahans in other places are not really perturbed by the incident as the incident has not really affected their lives.

Backfire

As much as Najib had hoped that Lahad Datu would give him some advantage, the reality is that it would not change the status quo in Sabah that much. But the repercussions will be felt in Peninsular Malaysia where voters are definitely watching closely at all the political maneuvers made by Najib and his Umno party against the Opposition.

The latest speculation that Anwar could even be jailed based on some fabricated evidence that he masterminded the Lahad Datu intrusions would only prod Sabah voters into making a decision or reaffirm their stance to vote for the opposition.

PR leaders would also get more international support and the prestige could help the Opposition win GE-13. Coupled with the sour relationship Malaysia now has with Indonesia and the tense relationship with the Philippines, the UMNO-BN federal government can easily be relegated to the place of a pariah in the international community.

So it might be wiser for Najib and Hisham to forget their grand plans of capitalizing on Lahad Datu for their electoral advantage.

Malaysia Chronicle