Kota Kinabalu: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat
(pic) said the revelation by late second Sabah CM Tan Sri Peter Lo Su Yin of attempts by Sabah’s Chinese community to delay the formation of Malaysia until a best deal is secured highlights the community’s important role in the nation-building process.
He said these are things that should be remembered not just by researchers in understanding the roles that the various communities played at the time of the merger, but also as a beacon for the generations to come.
“Lo was right in saying that Malaysia was formed at a great sacrifice by the people of Sabah and Sarawak. And for the powers that be in Kuala Lumpur to honour whatever had been promised to the Borneo states in the Malaysia Agreement (MA63),” said Chong who became Sabah’s third Chinese CM under the rotation system implemented by then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir.
“Things like this should be in the history books,” he said.
Late CM Tan Sri Peter Lo displaying the coin in 2014
Lo was the first Chinese CM appointed between 1965 and 1967 when intense rivalry between first CM Donald (later Tun Fuad) Stephens and first Governor Tun Datu Haji Mustapha necessitated Kuala Lumpur forcing a “cooling off” period between both Bumiputra giants until the question of political supremacy between Upko and Usno that they represented, respectively, could be settled by preparing the ground for the first Sabah elections in 1967.
Prior to that, Lo was serving as Sabah’s first Federal Minister in first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Cabinet.
Daily Express on Jan. 3, 2021 carried an exclusive report on the first anniversary of Lo’s passing on New Year’s day in 2020 where he revealed an attempt to embarrass the Conservative British Government then headed by Sir Harold MacMillan that it was behaving like “Judas” in trying to rush through the merger and transfer jurisdiction over Sabah and Sarawak from Whitehall to Kuala Lumpur.
Our report on Jan 3
He said it took the form of 30 coins specially minted in Hong Kong to be presented to then British North Borneo (Sabah upon independence) Governor Sir William Goode to be given to MacMillan. However, the plan failed when the Special Branch found out and warned the plotters of arrest if they went ahead. The coins were seized but Lo managed to convince the Special Branch head, Tom Lilley, to let him keep one as a souvenir. The coins bore the words “North Borneo Malaysia and Mac. London Aug 1963” on one side. On the flip side were the words “North Borneo Malaysia and Judas Gethsemane AD33”.
AD33 refers to the year that Jesus Christ was crucified at age 33. August 1963 refers to the original Malaysia formation date to coincide with Malaya’s independence on August 31, 1957, but which had to be postponed to September 16, 1963, to accommodate a last-minute United Nations fact-finding mission following pressure from Indonesia and philippines. The “Mac” with a dot refers to MacMillan.
Gethsemane according to Christian belief was the garden in Jerusalem where Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his apostles, for 30 shillings while he prayed after the Last Supper just before being put to death by crucifixion.
Lo said the Chinese community was unhappy as they feared that there was every possibility that tenets under the MA63 would be ignored by a powerful central leadership in later years, which came true with both Sabah and Sarawak demanding that certain rights accorded to both states be respected. These include taxation, development and Borneonisation, among others. Lo revealed this to Daily Express in an exclusive 2014 interview with Chief Editor James Sarda, with a request that it be made known only after his passing. Hence both the story as well as photographic evidence of him displaying the coin were embargoed all this while, in compliance with his wish.
Chong said while it is easy for important events to be forgotten with the passage of time, it would be unlikely in the case of the “Judas coin” which had high symbolic value and as a reminder that the Chinese community, in particular, did not take things lying down so to speak but were even willing to risk arrest if it was with noble intentions.
“I myself knew Lo for many years to be a very private person who shared his thoughts and views only to those he trusted. In fact, he graduated as Sabah’s first local lawyer under the Colombo Plan from the same university that I eventually landed myself, Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.
“Even though he wanted it known posthumously, it shows that it was something that was bothering him and would not be happy if it was never made known and we should be grateful for that,” he said.
He said the scholarship for Lo to study law also paid dividends as having become a lawyer, he became instrumental in coming up with many of the 20 Points safeguards as a precondition for agreeing to the formation of Malaysia, which was emulated by Sarawak which came up with their own 18 Points.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, a consistent advocate of Sabah rights and the first to raise the 20 Points during the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) administration, also praised Lo for ensuring that the “Judas coin” episode in Sabah’s political history would not go unknown even though he wanted it made public after his passing.
Jeffrey said it was also consistent with his own belief that the British wanted Malaysia formed in a hurry to safeguard their own selfish interests, regardless of the long-term consequences to the people in Sabah and Sarawak in terms of rights.
The merger proposal involving Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah was floated by Tunku in May 1961 and Malaysia was formed in September 1963 - all within two-and-a-half years.
