The PBS pull-out from the BN fold in 1991 is considered one of the biggest errors in the annals of Sabah political history. Tun Dr Lim Chong Yew, the former Chief Minister of Penang and a friend and supporter of the PBS, and particularly, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, called it an "error of judgment" and many agreed with him.
The pull-out during the 1991 Parliamentary election is one of the important events in the history of Sabah under the PBS administration.
It brought a definite shift of the politics of Sabah in favour of the BN coalition administration and particularly the Umno party.
Umno's leaders reaction and retaliation to the pullout was swift.
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The PBS administration was sorely undermined and weakened by that decision and three "turncoats" made it possible for the PBS government to fall after a slim majority of seats won at the 1994 election.
Their action allowed the Umno party to replace the Usno party which was subsequently dissolved.
And further, erstwhile friends and comrades-in-arms in the PBS administration started to abandon what looked like a sinking ship and formed splinter parties.
Two splinter Kadazandusun Murut based parties were formed, the Party Bersatu Rayak, Sabah, (PBRS) and the Party Democratic Sabah (PDS) which later changed to the United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) and one Chinese-based party, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).
Each and every one of these four political parties became part and parcel of the BN coalition government, (but SAPP later withdrew from the BN) and hence were part of Sabah's history; for each one as a group or organisation has also contributed greatly towards the "making" of what Malaysia is today.
No matter how we criticise them, the facts would always remain that they have contributed towards the progress attained by the BN coalition government to which all are partners then.
But probably, of the four parties, - PBS, UPKO, PBRS and SAPP, - the first, PBS has contributed more to Malaysia in general and Sabah in particular - both the good sides and the bad.
Indeed, if we come to think of it, the successive state governments that administered the State since 1963 have all contributed towards the success story of Malaysia.
Starting from the Sabah Alliance government of Upko, Usno and SCA, this administration was the "pioneering government.
The first Chief Minister upon Sabah obtaining independence through the formation of Malaysia was Tun Stephens,(31st August, 1963 to December 1964) followed by Tan Sri Peter Lo (1964 to 1967); and after the first general election of 1967, Tun Mustapha bin Datu Harun (1967 to February 1975), and the Usno-led truncated Sabah Alliance administration was under Tun Said Keruak as Chief Minister (1975 to 1976).
Usno lost to the newly-formed party, Berjaya in the March-April, 1976 election. For a brief period of time, Stephens came back as Chief Minister.
His demise in the tragic plane crash on 6th June, 1976 was a sad event in the history of Sabah.
Datuk Harris Salleh took over as Chief Minister (1976 to 1985) and modernised the State economically and socially. But Berjaya lost its way mainly because of the "pursuit of religion" by the Religious department in the Prime Minister Department in KL. You can read this in "Datuk Harris of Sabah" written as a biography of Harris. Berjaya then lost to the newly-formed party, PBS of Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan in the election of 1985.
As I said, each and every one of these successive governments contributed to the overall success story of the history of Malaysia.
There have been "faults" , errors and even "misdeeds" committed, and these would become the darker side of our history, but on the whole, much progress had taken place.
Perhaps the saddest story is that of the PBS administration under Pairin.
He and his fellow leaders in PBS had erred in not wanting to form a coalition government with the Usno party in 1985.
As a result, the Usno, which is largely a Sabah Muslim party and very much the protŽgŽ of the Peninsula Muslim party, Umno, was "not allowed" to function and administer the State in the best interest of the Sabah people.
Various impediments were placed on the young leaders, particularly on the Chief Minister at the time and no Federal financial allocations were made.
The State government then had to depend on the State's own resources, with timber income as its biggest economic mainstay.
But it was not enough. It took the PBS leaders some time to get the eyes and attention of the Prime Minister to accept the PBS into the BN-fold.
Once PBS was accepted into the BN fold in 1988, a smooth Federal-State relationship took place.
The governance of Sabah under the PBS administration then became much easier especially when more federal financial allocations were readily made available.
But then PBS withdrew from the BN fold just before the 1991 Parliamentary election. PBS once more governed the State on its own.
Earlier, in the 1990 State election, the PBS won in 36 seats out of the 48-seat State Assembly.
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There were many approaches made by Federal leaders, particularly the Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir for the PBS under Pairin Kitingan to accept a coalition government with Usno party.
Indeed, according to Tan Sri Ghani Gilong, a Kadazanndusun veteran Usno politician, he was called by the Prime Minister and told to convey to Pairin that if he accepted the formation of a coalition government with Usno, the Sabah leader would become something like the Penang government where a Chinese Gerakan party leader (Dr Lim Chong Yew) was Chief Minister with Federal blessing and support.
This was conveyed but no action was made. This offer was made prior to the election of 1990.
Indeed, there was even a proposed "Mahathir Plan" for a coalition of PBS, Usno and Berjaya prior to the 1990 State election.
The "Mahathir Plan" was not acted upon.
As a result, (after the PBS pullout from BN) Umno was established in the State.
The 1990 Parliamentary general election then took place.
On nomination day the PBS President, Pairin, who stood in the Parliamentary seat in Keningau was returned unopposed.
Three days later, a massive political rally was held at the Merdeka Padang in Kota Kinabalu.
The main speaker was the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir.
He praised and congratulated Pairin for being among the first few BN MP's to be returned unopposed.
However, soon after the Prime Minister flew back to Kuala Lumpur, PBS leaders announced the party was pulling out from the BN fold and was joining the newly-formed opposition coalition party known as Gagasan Rakyat.
Gagasan Rakyat was a coalition of three peninsular-based parties namely Semangat 46 of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, DAP of Lim Kit Siang and PAS an Islamist Muslim party of Kelantan. Indeed, PAS had ruled Kelantan for some time.
I was led to understand that the reasons why the PBS leaders decided to join Gagasan Rakyat was because they were encouraged, first of all, by the political analysis at that time namely that Gagasan Rakyat would defeat the Barisan National coalition government and, thus, become the new government of Malaysia.
Secondly, PBS leaders were also encouraged by an agreement signed between the two Gagasan leaders, Tengku Razaleigh and Lim Kit Siang and PBS leaders that first, Labuan would be returned to Sabah, secondly, that the 20 Points Safeguards would be reviewed and thirdly, the oil royalty of 5 per cent payable by Petronas would be increased by 30 per cent.
These three main points were indeed amongst the many points requested by the PBS administration from the time it won the governance of the State.
There were in fact major requests made by the PBS administration, namely:
1. Increase the oil royalty from 5pc to 30pc per cent.
2. The repatriation of the estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants and the stoppage of rampant corruption in the issuance of Blue Identity cards to these illegal immigrants.
3. The return of the island of Labuan to Sabah;
4. The setting up of an East Malaysian University and a general overhaul of the educational facilities and system in Sabah: and,
5. The setting up of a regional television network for East Malaysia.
According to Pairin, the continued silence by the Federal government to these requests by his government made Sabah's position with the BN government untenable.
He said the PBS government was committed to getting these major Sabah demands. This was therefore the third determining factor for the PBS leaders to accept the invitation by Razaleigh to join the new opposition coalition - Gagasan Rayat.
When the two Gagasan Rakyat leaders arrived to sign the agreement and speak at a rally at the Foundation Auditorium, thousands of people came to greet them at the airport.
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In fact, many also lined up the road from the old airport to the main Tg Aru road. There were optimism in the air.
I was no longer inside the PBS inner circle but friendship with Yacob allowed me to get the information about the political analysis of Gagasan Rakyat's strength in West Malaysia. Indeed, Datuk Yacob Merican telephoned me once or twice to convey his great optimism that Gagasan Rakyat would win many States in Peninsular Malaysia and if Sabah joined Gagasan Rakyat, Sabah would also benefit from the Gagasan Rakyat Administration.
I thought, therefore, that this encouraging political analysis must be the determining factor for the PBS leaders to commit "a sailang action" and pull out from the Barisan Nasional which Tun Dr. Lim Chong Yew said was an error of judgment and to the Umno leaders in Kuala Lumpur, a "stab in the back", an action which could not be forgotten and forgiven!
I do not know whether there was an effect on the Umno Malays for Razaleigh wearing the Sigah (Kadazan headgear).
It was used extensively by Umno propagandists in West Malaysia.
When Tengku Razaleigh arrived in Kota Kinabalu, both the Tengku and Lim were presented with the Kadazan Sigah.
Unfortunately, the one that was given to Tengku Razaleigh and placed on his head to wear had what it looked like a Christian cross.
Someone had taken a photograph of the headgear and sent to Kuala Lumpur and Umno propagandists made use of it to great effect it seemed.
The Tengku was accused of embracing Christianity! Apparently, thousands of leaflets bearing the picture of Razaleigh with the Sigah were distributed in many States particularly amongst the Malays.
The Sigah cloth was at one time woven by Kadazandusun women in the past. They stopped doing it and the Bajau community are now the people who produced such cloth.
The symbol in the front part of the Sigah is not a cross but in fact the sign of the four corners of the globe, North, South, East and West.
The Sigah that is produced by the Rungus community uses a different type of cloth and the Rungus Sigah is popular only amongst the Rungus Suku of Matunggong, Kudat.
The Gagasan Rakyat and the PBS joining it in 1991 is now part of the history of Sabah.
In my opinion, rightly or wrongly, the decision was made with the best interest of the Party and the people.
Meanwhile, I am greatly perturbed at the way the Huguan Siou of the Kadazandusun community is mocked and insulted in the press by someone who should know better than to call the Kadazandusun paramount leader-cum-President of PBS and presently one of the three Deputy Chief Ministers of Sabah "non-national political material".
I totally agree with Datuk Seri Clarence Bongkos Malakun that Datuk Rahim Ismail's uncalled for remarks are not only insulting to Pairin but also to the KDM communities! There is a need for Rahim to apologise to Pairin and to the KDM communities for his remarks.
As far as the KDM communities are concerned, Pairin is their supreme leader and his leadership is not just nonpareil but also beyond question.
And the KDM have nothing but great respect for the brave leader - the Huguan Siou.
He will remain the symbol of our pride and culture of the communities , the symbol of our pursuit for the good of the communities within the Barisan Nasional concept of 1Malaysia!