The importance of understanding Malaysia (For prospective migrant workers)

It is not enough that we know and understand our country. It is also important, nay necessary that prospective OFWs, who intend to venture into Malaysia, must study, analyze and understand that country, its history, geography, economy, demographics, culture, language and other factors that define the Malaysian people. It is not sufficient that we study our history and trace the origin of the Sultanate of Sulu's proprietary ownership over the territory of Northern and Eastern Borneo, now called Sabah. We need to dig deeper into the historical, sociological, anthropological and cultural backdrop of the current problem in Lahad Datu and Sabah.

History tells us that our ancestors were the Aetas, the Indonesians and the Malays who walked into our archipelago through the land bridges that connected us then with mainland Asia. We were told by our ancestors that long time ago, 10 Bornean datus left Borneo to escape the oppressive regime of then Datu Makatunaw and ventured aboard the boats called “balangays” to the north until they landed in the island of Panay. They were led by Datu Puti and were composed of datus Sumakwel, Bangkaya, Paiburong, Paduhunogan, Dumagsol, Dumangsel, Libay, Dumalogdog, and Balensula. The 10 datus negotiated a truce with the native chieftain, Datu Marikudo who agreed to barter the entire island of Panay with a golden salakot.

The Malaysians today therefore must welcome our OFWs because it was their forefathers who first migrated into our territories. We are only returning the favor. In another column, I will explain the historical background of the Sabah issue, including the legal and political nuances of the matter. Suffice it to say that our people who now work in Malaysia, as well as those who are intending to work there or marry a Malaysian, must examine the historical and contemporary facts that define Malaysia in relation to the Philippines. We are both founding members of ASEAN along with Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. Later, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam were admitted as members and East Timor and Papua New Guinea as observers.

Malaysia is the only constitutional monarchy in the world whose king, the Depertuan Agung, is elected by the nine sultans from among themselves for a term of five years. It has a federal government headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the king from among the duly elected members of the Parliament, who heads the majority party elected in democratic elections. Malaysia is composed of the Malayan Peninsula (south of Thailand) and the Territory of North Borneo. The Peninsula is composed of the states of Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Kelantan, Terranganu, Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putra Jaya. Malaysian North Borneo is composed of the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the island Federal Territory of Labuan.

The Malayan Peninsula achieved its independence from the United Kingdom on 31 August 1957. Sarawak became independent on 22 July 1963 while Sabah got its own on 31 August 1963. On 16 September 1963, the eleven States in the Peninsula entered into a Federation with Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore although the latter was expelled in 1965. Therefore, Malaysia is somehow similar to the US and the UK, where the States have autonomy but with centralized national defense, foreign affairs and other vital areas of governance. Nine of the 11 states in the peninsula are ruled by sultanates, the only two without a sultan being Malacca and Penang. These two, like Sabah and Sarawak has governors as heads of state.

Malaysia is a beautiful and friendly country. It is bigger than the Philippines in area but its population is less than one-third of ours. Its per capita income is US$ 15,000 while ours is less than US$ 5,000. Its cities are well-planned and they take care of their environment. We have about 700,000 Filipinos in that country. We are currently facing a lot of diplomatic problems since we have a pending claim over the territory of Sabah and Malaysia is a claimant over some of the islands in Spratlys. But Malaysia is an ally. It is helping us in our Mindanao problem and serves as a facilitator in our peace process. Pres. FVR is a close friend of former Prime Minister Mahathir. Pres. Noy and Prime Minister Najib Razak are cooperating in many ASEAN issues. It is important then that we cultivate fair and healthy relations with the Malaysians. The first thing to do is to know them well.