The ALLIANCE Strikes Back!

Yes, the Alliance party wasted no time indeed. On the same day that the Daily Express published the launch of Berjaya, the only other local English daily newspaper, the Kinabalu Sabah Times (now New Sabah Times) aligned to the ruling party also headlined the government's reaction. "Cabinet hits out at new party" and "Be Calm Call to People"- screamed the frontpage of the broadsheet. Thus, a war had begun between not only two political parties but also between the only two English newspapers that Sabah had at that time. Over the next few months in general and few weeks in particular, Sabahans were to be fed daily with more juicy news from both sides; with each making their accusations, denials and counter allegations or what have you. Sabah newspaper readers had a field day, each day reading more disclosures, something which they could not possibly hope to read only days or weeks before. The editors and reporters too for the first time need not have to worry whether they had enough materials for their next day's issue. (Remember, this was 1975 when newspapers did not have the technology of 2007. The Internet, E-mail and even fax machines were not yet invented. Computers or word processors were almost unheard of and reporters were still using typewriters!. News articles were sent to Sabah by teleprinter or by phone while photos were either sent through the post or by hand which sometimes took days.)

Again, you can read the entire frontpage by clicking on the images. You will notice that next to the headline there was a side-bar which said that the Yang di-Pertua Negara (Governor, as the post was called those days, now it's called Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah) had denied that he had accepted the resignation of Local Government Minister Datuk Salleh Sulong a couple of days earlier. "It was impossible for His Exellency to accept the resignation of any member of the Cabinet before receiving notification of such a matter from the Chief Minister's office," the short statement from the Istana (palace) stressed. At the same time, both the Director of Broadcasting (which operates the government-owned TV and radio stations) as well as the Kinabalu Sabah Times apologised to the Head of State for saying that the latter had accepted the resignation.

The Governor (affectionately called Negara for short by Sabahans those days) then was the late Tun Mohd Fuad Stephens (the former Datuk Donald Stephens). Why did he deny that he had accepted the resignation when Salleh Sulong himself had made known publicly his resignation? Please tune in to Sikmading's Sabah again to find out.

Aramaiti!

(Footnote: When I reproduced the Daily Express frontpage in my last posting, some readers might have thought I was only telling the Berjaya side of the story. They can be rest assured that I'll be 'reporting' for both sides and will strive to be as fair as possible, in line with my training as a reporter. Thanks and hope to have you back again.)