Common Destiny of the Peoples of Borneo

1. There will come a time - maybe years in the future - when the different ethnic groups living in the Island of Borneo will have no choice but to come to an understanding that they have a common destiny. This is a destiny that no one can actually predict but it can be planned to a limited extent.

2. This understanding need not be political. It can be economic development whereby all racial groups in the entire Borneo Island will be able to enjoy the fruits of economic developments, from the smallest to the biggest. No one and no particular group must be omitted from benefiting from such developments. The people of Borneo must progress together. No group can deny the existence and the rights of the other groups.

3. Sabah and Sarawak of the Malaysian Federation are in the ideal position to help make this understanding a reality. The construction of the Pan-Borneo network of roads will facilitate the realisation of the understanding between peoples of the different regions of Borneo. In the process, the citizens of Malaysia within the boundaries of Sabah and Sarawak, Indonesian citizens living in Kalimatan and the people of Brunei will enjoy a higher standard of living. Hopefully!

4. In order to ensure that people in the lowest strata of society will benefit, policies - and laws - are needed to prevent any exploitation or the usurpation of the rights of the common people of the entire island. Everyone must work faithfully guided by this principle.

5. The understanding may also be on security from hostile elements from outside and from within. This is an area for political leaders of the three countries to look into.

6. What the Bornean people themselves can do is to agree on initiatives to come to each others' aid during times of natural disasters. This can be in the form of MOUs. Here, NGOs having such objectives can spearhead initiatives to make this a reality.

Pan-Borneo Highway

The Pan-Borneo Highway was first proposed in 1966, about three years after the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. The Pan-Borneo Highway is a network of roads which will eventually connect Sabah, Sarawak, Kalimantan and Brunei. In Sabah, the network will cover every town, from the south to the north, from the west to the east.

Sometime in the middle of 2010,  the traffic along the highway between Donggongon and Lokawi began to show significant increase. But it was not until 2014 that serious work began on the construction of the highway. Some 48 years would elapsed after the Pan-Borneo Highway was first planned.

How long the whole project will take is an open question. People have to drive from Penampang to Papar to see for themselves the pace of work being undertaken.The project is proceeding fairly fast between Donggongon and Lokawi. But between Lokawi and Papar work is only starting to take off, so it appears.

What if the Pan-Borneo Highway had been constructed not long after it was first proposed? We can only imagine the tremendous development that it could have spurred  along this highway starting from around the 1970s. No one could have said that the highway would be a construction to nowhere.

Now that the construction has started, we pray that the works will proceed as scheduled. Sabah and the rest of Borneo need good road connectivity. The Pan-Borneo Highway will speed up the economic progress of every region on the Island. A well developed and economically vibrant Borneo will be good for Malaysia and Indonesia as well as Brunei.

It is to be noted, however, that the completed part of the highway was, in fact, the long overdue upgrading of the old Penampang - Papar Road (as per para 3 above).