ER IM 69-7. SABAH: ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN A DISPUTED STATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00825R000100620005-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 28, 2000
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: February 17, 1969
• Content Type: REPORT

.-a... Approved For Release 2000/05/31 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000100620005UI/GD/F
:(NFII)P-N"I`IA L 17 February 1969
ER IM 69-7, Sabah: Economic Conditions in a Disputed State
There are a number of errors or oversights in this report. Among
them are the following:
Sutnmiary.
Although smuggling did diminish prior to Malaysia's
abrogation of the anti-smuggling pact in late 1968, such
activities were by no means ever stopped. Diminution was
probably due more to the reduction of taxes on cigarettes
in the Philippines than to active control measures taken
during the period that the pact was in effect.
Paragraph 1.
"Malaysia" is the official name of the country, hence
"federation" should be lower-cased.
Paragraph 3.
Sabah does not border on Brunei.
Paragraph 7.
The statement that "the bulk (of the indigenes) remain
in the bush" is totally misleading. Most, in, fact, live
in small villages on or within easy reach of roads, and
grow wetland rice and/or cash crops -- not unlike most
peasants in other countries of Southeast Asia. Only a few
(mostly Muruts, who comprise less than five percent of the
population) still practice slash-and-burn agriculture.
Paragraph 12.
No mention is made of the recruitment of Chinese laborers
from Hong Kong and China. They outnumbered by far the
Indians that were brought to Sabah to work on the estates.
The large Chinese population in the state today is a result
of such recruitment (stopped during the past twenty years
for fear of communist subversion by Chinese immigrants).
Indians and Pakistanis in the state today are few in number
(not enumerated in the 1960 census).
CONFIDt;NTIAl.,
Approved For Release 2000/05/31 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000100620005-3
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'T F?'ITTTA 1
Paragraph 13.
Information available to GD/F indicates that the Malaysian
Migration Fund Board was established in 1967, not 1966.
Paragraph 16.
The Malaysian-Philippine anti-smug ling agreement did
not halt smuggling, even temporarily (see comment for
Summary).
Page 11, caption under photo.
Jesselton is now known as Kota Kinabalu.
Omissions.
No attention is given In the text to the production of palm
oil; it is mentioned only in a footnote to the Table on page
13. Although palm oil accounted for only 1.5 percent of export
earnings In 1967, acreage devoted to oil palm is rapidly ex-
panding; the crop is expected to become a. significant earner of
foreign exchange within a very few years.
Although not a substantial contributor to Sabah's economy,
the reexport of copra brought into the state illicitly from
Indonesia and the Philippines would seem, to be pertinent in
a study of "Economic Conditions in a Disputed State."
No mention is made of the state's potential for mineral
production. Although such potential does not as yet appear
great, a Japanese firm plans to begin the mining of a copper
deposit within two years. Also, no mention is made In the
report of the extensive offshore oil explorations currently
being undertaken by major oil companies.
CONFII)I NTIAL.
Approved For Release 2000/05/31 : CIA-RDP84-00825R000100620005-3