Lest We Forget!

Hi guys, I'm back but sorry I'm late though I promised that I'd be back real soon. Very frustratingly, my Internet connection was down. But there was a consolation, I was not the only one to face the problem. The guy (or rather the other veteran Sabah journalist-turned blogger) who introduced me to blogging faced the same problem so that he could not do any new posting over the weekend.

There was one other problem which caused the delay. As you can see, there is a reproduction of the frontpage headline story of a local newspaper above. I photostated this old newspaper cutting from the archives a few days ago and happily scanned it into my computer, and saved it in the 'normal' way (in bit map form). But when I uploaded it unto what was supposed to have been my 2nd posting this morning (Malaysian time) I found to my horror that all that 'came out' on my web page was a blank space where the image was supposed to have been. (Luckily Google's Blogger allowed me to delete the incomplete or malfunctioning 2nd posting before anybody could read it!) For reason of pride (I'm human) I didn't consult anybody except myself. Sabahans say 'kalah malu' which roughly means 'to be ashamed'. Thank God, after a few hours of trial and error and being patient, I finally solved the problem and at least my trip (in the rain) to the archives was not wasted. My computer 'told' me that I could only upload images saved either as Jpeg or GIF files. So the problem lies at the stage when I was saving the document into my computer. I had no problem uploading the map yesterday as it was downloaded from the Internet itself in the first place and thus I suppose 'they speak the same language'. I share this story openly though I may sound stupid (it's ok) for the benefit of would-be un-IT-savvy bloggers (like me) in order to save their time and energy. After all, another journalist friend of mine, Jaxon S in Singapore, also openly admitted in his blog his ignorance as far as IT is concerned. It pays to be humble, they say. After all, to err is human.

So now that I've given all the excuses of why I was late to deliver my 2nd posting, let's get to the 'main course'. As you can see, my 2nd installment carries the heading 'Lest We Forget!'. Why this heading? Well, as I was saying in my first article, the emphasis of my blog will be recent political history of Sabah. (By the way, did I tell you that my first boss or political master was a university lecturer in history and that he was very fond of saying "History always repeats itself'"?)

Sabahans have come a long way since 1963 and they have certainly matured politically. Infact, so matured (is there such a thing as over-matured?) that they had voted in four different State governments in as many decades. (Sabah's first 'direct' election was held only in 1967) This is a record among the 13 Malaysian states and I am just wondering aloud whether this also shows that Sabahans are more matured politically than their fellow-Malaysians, no offence meant to the others.

There must have been good reasons for Sabahans to change (State) government almost every decade since Independence. For the record, the present BN government has been in power since 1994, therefore breaking the 'zinx' which affected the previous PBS, Berjaya and Alliance governments (in reverse order). But man's memory is short, as they say, and therefore it is partly the purpose of this blog to 'refresh' the memory of Sabahans, hence today's heading. 'Lest We Forget!' will be a permanent feature in this blog, if not daily at least regularly. At the same time this blog is also dedicated to those Sabahans too young to know what went on in the local political arena between the 1960s-70s, or for that matter between the 1980s-90s. It is also hoped that 'Lest We Forget!' will also prove useful to students of Sabah's political history, in addition to whatever few books already written by others on this subject. Trust me, I know how tedious and frustrating going to the archives can sometimes be; not to mention the prohibitive photostating costs.

As stated yesterday, the writer had the "humble opportunity" (to borrow the words of the Kionsom boy, another Sabahan journalist-turned blogger) to serve four senior politicians under four different State governments and was therefore able to witness first hand or at close range what transpired and the political intrigue involved. Having said that, I do however realise that however or whatever I write, there will always be people who disagree with me or even accuse me of being biased. Or worse still accuse me of being a mercenary writer or opposition symphatizer. My experience as a reporter tells me so. But you can't please everybody, can you? (After all, it's the politicians themselves who are very fond of saying this.) A former Sabah deputy chief minister (whom I admire for his intelligence and efficiency and describe him as the (former Indonesian vice president and intellect) Habibie of Sabah) used to say (in private, of course): "I wasn't born to please any body, except God."

And now for the dessert, may we please come back to the document reproduced above. As you can see, it was taken from the frontpage of the 15th July 1975 edition of the Daily Express, a local English broadsheet daily in Sabah. (For a larger view please click on image) As you can also see, the banner headline reads: "Salleh Sulong Resigns" (the previous day). (Datuk Haji) Salleh Sulong was the Minister of Local Government under the Usno-dominated Sabah Alliance Government. Why did he resign (abruptly) on 14th July 1975 and why did Sikmading choose 15th July 2007 (Malaysian time) to start his blog? For the answer, please tune in to my next posting, hopefully tomorrow. Got to go to bed now, a bit tired after spending hours trying to figure out how to upload the newspaper article. Besides, tomorrow is another working day for me, if you will excuse me.

See you and don't forget, Aramaiti!