Reflections of a Former Idealist
"Instead of the dawn we dreamed of, we found ourselves facing the same storm — just with different faces at the helm."
I still remember the early days — when Malaysia was under the firm grip of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s UMNO administration.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was still behind bars, and the word Reformasi echoed like a battle cry across the nation.
I was a young adult then — full of fire, full of hope, and admittedly, quite naive about politics.
Like many Sabahans, I believed in the promises of change. We looked up to the likes of Nurul Izzah Anwar and Lim Kit Siang, figures who seemed to carry the torch of justice and courage. We saw them as the ones who could finally break Malaysia — and by extension, Sabah and Sarawak — free from decades of oppression and arrogance under UMNO and Barisan Nasional.
Those were the days we filled social media with our frustrations — on Twitter, in forums, and on commentary sites.
We ranted about our daily struggles: the lack of clean water, poor infrastructure, and the constant feeling of being forgotten.
Many elections and endless political dramas later, when the Chief Architect of Reformasi — Anwar Ibrahim — finally became Prime Minister (PMX), reality hit hard.
Instead of the dawn we dreamed of, we found ourselves facing the same storm — just with different faces at the helm.
BN and PH are now together, and they have ganged up on us.
It seems that at the level of Malaya’s political elite, truly fulfilling MA63 was never really in their best interest. They say that Malaysia will be bankrupted if they honor the 40% net revenue.
We once called ourselves Malaysians — proudly and sincerely.
We truly believed that the root of all our problems was just one thing: the BN/UMNO administration.
To us, the struggles of Sabah and Sarawak were Malaysia’s struggles. We thought our pain was shared, that our fight was a national fight.
But now, reality has set in.
We may have stood shoulder to shoulder as fellow Malaysians when fighting alongside PH to replace BN and UMNO, but when it comes to MA63, our opponents are no longer limited to one coalition — they are all the acronyms of Malayan politics: PH, BN, and PN.
MA63, in the end, turned out to be just another convenient slogan — a political fodder to secure support from Sabah and Sarawak.
And once again, Sabah is reduced to what they’ve always seen us as — a Fixed Deposit.
MA63 is Malaysia.
To deny MA63 is to deny the very foundation upon which Malaysia was built.
And Malaysia can never truly be Madani — not until every injustice is corrected, and every imbalance is made right.
But This Time, We See Clearly
Yet despite all the disappointment, one thing has changed — Sabahans are no longer blind.
We no longer cling to empty promises from leaders who only remember us when elections draw near.
We have learned, through years of betrayal and broken pledges, that our future lies not in the hands of Malayan politics, but in our own unity and conviction.
We will no longer be used as stepping stones for others to climb to power.
We will no longer be silenced by rhetoric or distracted by handouts.
Because this time, we stand together — as Sabahans.
Our rights were not given to us by Malaya; they were ours from the start.
And now, we are ready to reclaim them — not with anger, but with clarity, courage, and purpose.
Sabah for Sabahans. Justice for Sabah.
