East Malaysia

Wait, no, not seven, nine years ago this week that we were on another father-daughter trip on Ma- in, in Malaysia.

We were though on the far, what they call east Malaysia, which is the northern third of the island of Borneo, which is in the South China Sea, and we had been in Australia.

We had been visiting some old teammates of mine and friends in Australia together, and you had a good time there.

You had a good birthday in Australia.

We had a day or two between connections there, and I had the brilliant idea, let's try to squeeze in another trip within a trip during that short time in Malaysia.

So we were gonna land in Kuala Lumpur sometime in the afternoon, and then we had a flight that evening from the mainland of Malaysia over to a place called KK, which is stands for Kota Kinabalu, Kota Kinabalu, which is in Borneo.

It's on, it's in East Malaysia.

It's a large city over there, and there was a hotel there that I had booked for us to stay at, um, similar to the one we're at now here.

So basically I went on a gap year after school and I was like, I want to go somewhere completely different.

So I ended up in East Malaysia teaching English.

Great, loved it.

And then I got into scuba diving when I was out there, fell in love with the dive instructor, fell in love with the diving.

Mm.

I mean, contextualizing this, we've just been, um, having-- We've just been seeing reports about, um, MOs not reporting to positions as well, especially in East Malaysia, in Sabah and Sarawak, right? So I guess there's, there are those questions to answer.

Yeah.

What, uh...

Meaning none of the doctors that were offered positions are actually taking up this position.

Yeah.

And the problem isn't just East Malaysia.

It's actually across the country.

We'll be checking out how Bursa Malaysia begins the trading day.

Uh, but before that, uh, in our continuing series on Budget 2027, uh, which will be tabled tomorrow, of course, we'll be turning our attention to East Malaysia.

Sabah and Sarawak received six point nine billion and six billion respectively in federal development allocations under Budget 2026.

But the Auditor General's latest report found that only four of 35 Pan-Borneo Highway packages in Sabah had been completed as of March 2026, with project costs rising by one point one billion to nineteen billion ringgit.

Yeah.

Beyond major infrastructure projects, what other areas should Budget 2027 focus on to support development in East Malaysia? And for some thoughts on this, uh, we speak with Ariff Adi Putera Anwar, the research associate at Institute for Development Studies, Sabah.

So good morning, Arif.

Uh, with Budget 2027 approaching, what would you like to see the federal government deliver for Sabah?

But, but it's, it's, it's a difficult task for them because, because the, the critical race theory, because the, the special rights, the, the victim mindset, the siege mentality, all, all, all those are just much easier trigger, you know, when you do that.

And, and I, I guess you use the same trigger on, on the East Malaysian side for independence.

It's the same thing.

It's much easier.

I mean, because it, it literally just eliminate the whole Dayak group from rising to power again.

Very interesting you, you, you say that, uh, the, the victim mindset because, y- you know, around 2010, 2014, y- y- you know, when especially i- in, in West Malaysian side where, you know, Pakatan Rakyat started to come together and there's like a real opportunity to challenge Barisan National, but every time Barisan National was rescued by Sabah, Sarawak.

So they always call them the fixed deposit, remember? And so every time you have a discussion, especially West and East, because West Malaysian will be like, "You know, why, why you all continue to vote for Barisan National?" Then, then the, the East Malaysian will become very defensive and it's, it's like, "You know, when people are so poor, you know, they really cannot..." So, so that kind of...

Do you remember all this kind of discussion? And so, so it's interesting that y- you know, y- then you really see that reflected i- in the rural voting pattern, right? They, they, you know, they don't like what the government is doing, but at the same time they needed the help.

... and we saw how James Brooke, a supposed private British citizen, came to become the White Rajah of Sarawak, beginning a three-generation long dynasty in the region.

Now, today, we're gonna look at the other half of Malaysian Borneo, which is the state of Sabah, and we're gonna take a look at the very different colonial history that took place there.

Okay.

But before we get into that, let's look at the food of the day, that symbol that connects us with the past and the people, and that is bosol.

management fees.

I remember many years ago I was in actually Borneo and East Malaysia a lot and where a lot of Filipino women have been trafficked over the years and they'd be promised X amount of money, dubious should I go, that sort of thing.

And then the people who were holding them, they would charge them for all the other costs, which So payday arrives and it turns out they might owe $10 because they've deducted money for mobile phones, limited access, but everything, shampoo, air conditioner, makeup, towels, clothes, and then you throw on a 50% management surcharge fee.

And