Operation Talkak - Must Read

Operation Talkak was carried out between 1990 and 1991 to crack down on opposition leaders in Sabah, Malaysia, and their alleged plans to secede the state from Malaysia. Seven men were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA). All seven men were leaders or prominent members the Kadazan Cultural Association (KCA), Institute for Development Studies (IDS), Sabah Foundation, and opposition party Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), and were placed under two-year detention orders.

Events leading up to Operation Talkak

February 1990
Jeffrey Kitingan, 42, director of IDS, younger brother of Chief Minister of Sabah Pairin Kitingan, is charged in a high court with seven counts of corruption. The corruption charges are in regards to the export of timber. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad denies that the Kitingan case is politically motivated.


July 1990
PBS calls for a 50-50 redistribution of revenue from Sabah's resources, particularly from crude oil. At the time, the distribution is 95-5, with 95% going to the federal government and 5% to Sabah. Sabah produces a fifth of Malaysia's total crude oil output.


October 1990
Four days before the general elections, PBS withdraws from Barisan Nasional (BN), and joins opposition party Semangat 46. According to Bernard Dompok, the relationship between PBS and BN had always been an uneasy one, since PBS came to power during the Sabah state elections in 1985.


Chronology of Events

May 1990
Damit Undikai, 54, PBS member and former Special Branch officer, is arrested by Special Branch police forces on May 18, for allegedly heading plans to secede Sabah from the Malaysian federation.

Albinus Yudah, 41, chief of security at Borneo Rest House, member of PBS and KCA, and former police constable, is arrested on May 25.

Benedict Topin, 37, PBS member, Executive Secretary of KCA, is arrested on May 25. The Malaysian police claims to have been monitoring him since 1987.


July 1990
Abdul Rahman Ahmad, 51, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Sabah, is arrested on July 7.


January 1991
Maximus Ongkili, senior researcher and deputy chief director of IDS, nephew of Jeffrey Kitingan and Chief Minister of Sabah Pairin Kitingan, electoral press consultant to Pairin Kitingan during the 1990 Sabah state and national elections, is arrested on January 3.

Vincent Chung, manager of administration and personnel, Sabah Foundation, is arrested on January 19.

Pairin Kitingan, Chief Minister of Sabah, Huguan Siou (Supreme Chief) of the KCA, president of PBS, is pressed with corruption charges. Almost a year earlier, his brother Jeffrey Kitingan was pressed with similar charges.


March 1991
Maximus Ongkili is released unconditionally on March 2.


May 1991
Jeffrey Kitingan is arrested on May 13.

Source : from the public domain of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well the rest is now history, In just a short period of 45 years in Malaysia, Sabah from the richest state in the Federation of Malaysia with huge natural rouces like timber, Palm Oil, Fossil Oil is now the poorest state in Malaysia.

Average incomes are now among the lowest in Malaysia, and with a considerably higher cost of living than in West Malaysia. In 2000 Sabah had an unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent, the highest of any Malaysian state and almost twice the national average of 3.1 per cent. The state has the highest poverty level in the country at 16 per cent, more than three times the national average

Source : From the public domain of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All 45 years Sabah was under the UMNOed BN Government except for a brief period.

Question, how can The UMNOed BN sucked Sabah dry until Sabah became the POOREST STATE IN THE FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA?