PBK criticises ‘Borneo Bloc’ narrative as untrue, pure deflection

MIRI (March 4): Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) has slammed the distorted narrative of an alleged ‘Borneo Bloc’ conspiring to control the Peninsula, saying such characterisation only serves to confuse the public and deflect attention from the real structural imbalances within the federation.

PBK president Voon Lee Shan in a statement rejected allegations that a unified bloc of Sabah and Sarawak existed as a single political force seeking to dominate any part of Malaysia.

“The reality is that both Sabah and Sarawak have been struggling — individually and consistently — to defend the rights guaranteed to them at the formation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963,” he said.

He pointed to historical records that stated Malaysia was formed as a partnership between Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore, and was never intended to be an expansion of Malaya under a new name.

He said the party viewed the Federal Constitution as fundamentally rooted in the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya, modified merely to admit new territories and that what was promised as an equal partnership has, in practice, operated as centralised control by the federation of Malaya.

Voon drew attention to the balance of power within Parliament, where Sarawak holds 31 seats while Sabah holds 25 seats.

“This is insufficient to block federal legislation, even when it directly affects their independence, resources, and future.

“This is seen by growing dissatisfaction of the people of Borneo territories over control and ‘political suffocation’ of Borneo people. They are not able to protect their constitutional rights,” he said.

He further highlighted that control of national policy, cabinet formation and executive authority remains concentrated in the hands of Malaya, and that neither Sabah nor Sarawak had an institutional pathway to hold the highest office of Yang di-Pertuan Agong despite both states having their own Yang di-Pertua Negeri appointed by the monarch.

Voon also pointed to the Petroleum Development Act 1974 as a significant turning point, saying that through that Act and subsequent federal legislation, oil and gas resources belonging to Sabah and Sarawak were centralised under Petronas and effectively placed under the authority of the Prime Minister.

He acknowledged it was increasingly difficult to counter the rising political tide in Sabah and Sarawak that regards both states as colonies, or at the very least as territories being treated as such by Malaya.

“The call for restoration of rights is not extremism or anti-federal. It is a legitimate demand grounded in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the principle of equal partnership,” he said.