Lee Kuok Tiung of Universiti Malaysia Sabah said he agreed that the two states were now better off, but he questioned the accuracy of the former prime minister’s remark about their being richer than states in the peninsula.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said income distribution in Sabah and Sarawak was uneven although they were indeed the richest states in exploitable natural resources.
Political economist Firdausi Suffian said people in the two states were generally poorer than their compatriots in Peninsular Malaysia.
Mahathir, in an interview with Great People Television on Facebook Live yesterday, said Sabah and Sarawak were better off being part of Malaysia.
He said both states were poor but became richer than the peninsular states after 1963, when Malaysia was formed.
But he voiced disappointment over the ideas of “Sarawak for Sarawakians” and “Sabah for Sabahans” and said citizens should think of themselves as Malaysian first.
His remarks did not go down well with many netizens, with one Edward Woo saying the federal government had taken a lot from both states and given crumbs in return.
Noel Sabaratnam said: “Rubbish. They have been milked dry by the politicians from both sides.”
Another netizen, Samuel Raj, said the two states would have excelled above the country itself if they had independently managed their natural resources.
Oh, who hails from Sabah, told FMT he was sure that Mahathir would not be losing any sleep over the brickbats.
“Mahathir won’t care about what any particular group or segment of voters thinks about him,” he said.
“Since his first term as prime minister, he has always spoken his mind. So I don’t think he really cares what Sabahans and Sarawakians think.”
Lee told FMT he believed Sabah and Sarawak would prosper if Putrajaya were fair to them in distributing the wealth reaped from their natural resources.
“The source of wealth comes from these states. They deserve a larger share,” he said.
“Companies like Petronas should consider building their Twin Towers or the Pengerang Integrated Complex in Sabah or Sarawak. Oil palm conglomerates should consider putting their headquarters in Sabah and not in Selangor or anywhere else in the peninsula.”
Firdausi said he would acknowledge that both states had become more developed than they were in the mid-1960s.
“However, if you talk about being richer such as being developed in equal measure with other states, then it’s a no,” he said.
“We are rich with resources, but the people are still poorer in many respects than people in the peninsula.”
He said infrastructural development was poor and he attributed this mainly to the centralisation of the federal administration.
He also said Sabah had the highest unemployment rate in the country, the most uneven income distribution and limited opportunities for expansion of trade due to infrastructure problems.
Hardcore poverty in Sabah had increased from 19.5% in 2019 to 25.3% in 2020, he added.