The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.
– Thomas Jefferson, third US president of USA
A government of the people, by the people and for the people.
These were the words of American president Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. It is one of the best-known speeches worldwide.
He spoke and the world listened. His idea of a government primarily looking after the interests of the people is echoed throughout the globe.
A government elected for the people, if it does not abide by these very principles, shouldn’t even be in power in the first place.
So how does this relate to this column today?
Frankly speaking, I am disappointed with the state of the nation’s sovereignty.
As many have read, there’s this sultanate laying claim to what is rightfully ours; ours – not theirs!
We have read in the papers that somehow and someway, some courts in the other part of the world allows them to do that.
They are seeking to get away with at least RM64 billion of our hard-earned Malaysian ringgit due to a territorial dispute. It’s disappointing.
To us locals, these are the same people who invaded our shores in the horrific incursion of 2013 in Lahad Datu, Sabah. Paying them is akin to adding insult to injury.
I need not mention the number of lives we lost during the incident. I was there doing my study – not in Lahad Datu, but close enough to Sabah to learn that people nearby are losing family members to the standoff.
I myself was planning to visit the state that same week – thank God that didn’t happen.
I still remember those around me being in horror and constant trepidation over the safety of their family members, it was heartbreaking.
Some of them had fathers, brothers and relatives working in the Malaysia security forces to fight off the terrorists.
I remember waking up to the sound of fighter jet planes flying. I heard from others that the army was about to attack the base of the intruders or at least their place of hiding.
How much of this was true, I don’t really know. It was not reported – or at least, I couldn’t recall it being such.
At the time, information on our troop’s movement was not widely publicised for obvious reasons.
People were being told to not post any updates to social media on the activities or blockades by the Malaysian army for fear of the information falling into the wrong hands and curtailing the mission to protect the sovereignty of the country.
So, any information that got through, I only was able to learn about it from word of mouth.
I also remember that there were shenanigans at the place I was studying.
Apparently, there were even attempts to infiltrate the compound by irresponsible parties and everyone was on high alarm. There were a number police cars stationed in our area to investigate the incident.
It was some experience and it still deeply wounded some people I know.
In short, I do not think Malaysia should pay a single sen to these people. But apparently that might not be possible.
I was shocked to learn that a high-ranking official of the then Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government made a boo-boo and wrote to those laying claim to our territory in 2019.
The letter was used by lawyers representing the descendants of the now defunct sultanate to refute Malaysia’s rejection of their identity.
The letter also reportedly expressed the PH government official’s regret that payments ceased in 2013 and his remark that Malaysia was “now ready and willing” to pay the sultanate heirs all arrears from 2013 to 2019 amounting to RM48,300.
We stopped paying the heirs to this sultanate their cession money of RM5,300 after the standoff.
This PH official had since slammed the international arbitrator in this case, calling him “rogue”.
To me it was the PH federal government and himself, as the head counsel who was the “rogue” in his move to write the letter in the first place.
PH cabinet leaders, quoted by a national daily, have dismissed any knowledge of the letter. It is expected – they probably didn’t know how big of a blunder that this would be.
In any case, if we get through this without costing an arm and a leg, we must take this as a lesson.
We should never elect sub-par leaders to government. The nation’s sovereignty must be protected at all costs.
Petty politics does not matter if we don’t still have a country to live in.
