REBUTTAL TO LEE: DON’T COMMENT ON SABAH IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND SABAH’S HISTORY

 

Friday, 28 November 2025

Lee’s commentary on KDMR politics clearly exposes one thing:

his knowledge of Sabah’s political history is painfully inadequate.

Before making sweeping statements about “disunity” or “warlordism,” perhaps he should perform even the most basic due diligence.

And Daily Express, which claims to deliver “quality journalism,” should reflect on how such shallow, incomplete commentary makes it past editorial review.

A media outlet is only as credible as the accuracy it is willing to uphold.

Let’s set the record straight.

1. The root cause of Sabah’s political fragmentation is not the KDMR community. It is Malayan political engineering.

Lee conveniently ignores — or perhaps doesn’t even know — the central event that shaped Sabah’s fractured political landscape today:

The 1994 political coup against PBS.

In the 1994 Sabah Elections, PBS under Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan won the state election fair and square.

But within weeks, Kuala Lumpur — under Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and UMNO — engineered defections that toppled the PBS government despite their electoral victory.

This is not opinion. This is historical fact.

What followed was:

• systematic poaching of Assemblymen,

• the weaponisation of money politics,

• promises of federal positions to defectors,

• and the introduction of UMNO into Sabah’s political bloodstream.

The result? Decades of fragmented local parties, splinter groups, and political instability — all designed and orchestrated to ensure Sabah remained divided, controllable, and economically dependent.

So if Lee wants to point fingers, he should point them in the right direction: UMNO and the Federal power structure, not the KDMR community.

2. Lee claims KDMR leaders are “disunited.”

He should ask why they became disunited.

Splinter parties like PDS, Upko 2.0, SAPP, PBRS and others did not appear in a vacuum.

They formed because federal interference rewarded betrayal, punished resistance, and systematically dismantled any attempt at local solidarity.

You cannot burn a house for 30 years and then blame the family for not living peacefully inside it.

If Lee had even a basic understanding of Sabah’s political context, he would know that the KDMR community has been the primary victim of this engineered fragmentation — not its cause.

His “analysis” only shows that he is reading Sabah from a distance, through the lens of Peninsula narratives, not Sabah’s lived reality.

3. His claim that KDMR leaders are “fighting each other using federal parties as bogeymen” shows superficial thinking.

Federal parties did strip Sabah of its rights. Federal leaders did undermine MA63. Federal governments did benefit from economic extraction while leaving Sabah underdeveloped.

This is not mythology. This is documented policy, legislation and historical fact.

If Lee considers this “bogeyman politics,” then he is either:

• ignorant of the facts, or

• deliberately attempting to rewrite history.

Both are unacceptable.

4. He has no business commenting on Sabah if he refuses to acknowledge Sabah’s political injuries.

Commentators have a responsibility to understand the subject they comment on. Lee’s analysis ignores history, erases federal interference, and blames the victims for the wounds inflicted on them.

If he insists on discussing Sabah, then he should first:

• study Sabah’s political history,

• understand the trauma of 1994,

• understand the role of UMNO and Dr Mahathir,

• understand the structural marginalisation of MA63,

• and understand why the local party sentiment is deeply rooted.

Otherwise, his commentary serves no purpose except to distort truth and insult the lived experience of the Sabah people.

Lee’s commentary is not analysis. It is misinformation.

It is irresponsible. It is shallow. And it attempts to shift blame for Sabah’s fragmentation away from its actual architects in Kuala Lumpur.

If Daily Express wants to maintain credibility, it should not platform commentary that whitewashes Malayan interference while blaming the KDMR community for the fractures imposed upon them.

Sabah’s political story is long, painful, and well-documented.

Lee clearly does not know it — and until he does, he has no business lecturing Sabah on “unity.”