The Sabah Sarawak Rights Australia New Zealand (SSRANZ) advocacy group expresses its profound concern over the recently declassified findings of the Lembaga Tabung Haji Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI). The report uncovers a catastrophic web of mismanagement, concealed deficits, and corrupt investment practices.

With the federal government admitting that the multi-year rescue operation of this Malayan religious institution has cost taxpayers nearly RM13 billion, SSRANZ stands firmly with the recent position of the Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK). In view of this appalling waste of public funds and resources, SSRANZ must openly question why the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government continues to keep Sarawak bound to an asymmetric federal framework where Bornean revenues are continually expropriated to subsidise Malaya’s structural corruption.

SIPHONING BORNEAN WEALTH: THROWING PEARLS TO SWINE
The Tabung Haji disaster is not an isolated event; it comes directly in the wake of the highly publicised and destructive Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) scandals. These serial asset collapses have exacted an immense toll across the Borneo territories. In Sarawak, the corruption culminated in the fraudulent, highly inflated acquisition of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites in Kuching by Felda Investment Corporation (FIC).

Simultaneously in Sabah, systemic vulnerabilities have been exposed through land transaction frauds and backroom account setups that directly compromised state boundaries. These continuous corporate catastrophes have driven FELDA into nearly RM10 billion of debt, forcing yet another massive central government bailout. SSRANZ demands a definitive explanation: Is it due to deliberate mismanagement that directly benefited corrupt people in control of those failed federal projects? If these multi-billion-dollar collapses were merely accidental financial downturns, why is the federal government now desperately seeking out the culprits and charging them with corruption? The criminal prosecutions and continuous anti-corruption dragnet surrounding these entities prove that these are not standard business risks—they are systematic acts of plunder executed by well-connected elites.

For over six decades, Sarawak's immense natural and petroleum wealth has been systematically siphoned by federal rulers to artificially prop up a collapsing central administration and bail out a continuous stream of failed Malayan projects. Funnelling the hard-earned resources of the Bornean people into the corrupt, mismanaged, and unaccountable financial black holes of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is akin to throwing pearls before swine. While Malayan political elites squander billions on failed ventures, unsustainable bailouts, and institutional scandals, the people of Sarawak are left with underfunded hospitals, broken rural schools, and severely neglected public infrastructure.

THE TABUNG HAJI RCI DISCLOSURES: A LEGACY OF MALAYAN FRAUDS AND BAILOUTS
The newly released RCI findings present a damning indictment of federal institutional decay, confirming that the fund suffered a staggering RM10 billion in total accumulated losses due to creative accounting, fake asset valuations, and high-risk investments. The Finance Minister own admission that seven out of fourteen major investments ended in absolute failure—including a single Saudi Arabian venture that wiped out RM1.86 billion—highlights an unmitigated disaster. In 2017 alone, Tabung Haji falsely declared a RM3.4 billion profit to distribute dividends while actually operating at a net loss of RM1.4 billion. Rather than allowing the corrupt actors and the entity to face full financial accountability, the federal government deployed a massive, taxpayer-funded bailout package exceeding RM10 billion to absorb the institution's toxic assets. This staggering federal burden, as highlighted by multi-agency probes and parliamentary warnings, is an obligation that will heavily weigh down future generations.

CITING THE PBK POSITION: WEAPONIZED RESOURCES FOR MALAYAN MISMANAGEMENT

SSRANZ amplifies the sharp, critical stance taken by the Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK). The party has rightfully exposed the ongoing injustice of the Sarawakian people being forced to subsidise Malaya’s financial black holes. While public infrastructure across Sarawak remains severely starved of federal capital, the state's extracted wealth is funnelled directly into the central treasury to stabilise collapsing federal portfolios. Why does the GPS government continuously congratulate itself on minor, superficial domestic concessions while remaining completely silent as the federal government drains Sarawak’s sovereign oil, gas, and tax revenues to fund non-Bornean institutional rescues? This is a recurring pattern of exploitation, mirroring the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB state funds plundered under previous federal regimes.

THE GPS POLITICAL CONTRADICTION: PERPETUATING A FRACTURED TREATY FRAMEWORK

This systemic exploitation underpins why the GPS government's strategy of endless, closed-door negotiations to "fix" the long-collapsed Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) is a dangerous political distraction.The entire economic architecture of the federation is fundamentally flawed: •

THE INVALIDATION OF ANNEX J: The original MA63 treaty structure collapsed irreversibly when Singapore seceded in 1965, nullifying the promised development loans and prompting Malaya to forcefully seize Bornean resource jurisdiction via the illegal Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74). •

THE DEMISE OF EQUAL PARTNERSHIP: Premier Abang Johari Openg's submission that Sarawak will "forever remain in Malaysia" directly and fundamentally betrays his own foundational pledge that "Sarawak must control its own destiny." True self-determination cannot exist when a state's sovereign wealth is held hostage to fund the systemic mismanagement and corruption of an overseas dominant central authority in Kuala Lumpur.

CALL TO ACTION: RECLAIM SOVEREIGN TITLE AND STOP THE PLUNDER
SSRANZ explicitly warns that as long as Sarawak remains tethered to Putrajaya's financial liabilities, its non-renewable resources will be treated as an open-ended credit line for Malayan political scandals. Sarawakians must no longer tolerate their state being used to bail out foreign corruption.

SSRANZ urges the GPS administration to reconsider its compliant alignment with federal policies that discriminate against the long-term advancement of our homeland. The state government must immediately assert its absolute constitutional right over its maritime continental shelf boundaries as established by the 1954 Alteration of Boundaries Orders in Council.

It is time to bypass compromised domestic channels, pass formal State Legislative Resolutions of Non Consent, and aggressively pursue international decolonization protocols under United Nations oversight. Sarawak’s wealth belongs exclusively to Sarawakians. We must halt the federal drain, protect our assets, and decisively TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!

PREPARED BY: SSRANZ MEDIA SECRETARIAT
DISCLAIMER: This article was prepared by SSRANZ media.
Part of the historical fact narrative is based on available declassified colonial documents, open sources, and part of it was done by internet research, including verified AI sources. SSRANZ takes sole responsibility for any errors or omissions.