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.
Present day
Present-day political conditions in Sabah and Malaysia have taken a surprising
turn, in comparison with the conditions during Operation Talkak. Several of
the previously detained figures have gone on to assume prominent positions in
the current Malaysian government. These political conditions, and political
choices of the previously detained figures, have been met with mixed
receptions by the public.
Parti Bersatu Sabah, under the leadership of Pairin Kitingan, has been a
member of the Barisan Nasional coalition since 2002.
Maximus Ongkili was appointed a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in
2004, by Mahathir Mohamad's successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Ongkili was
placed in charge of National Unity, and headed the initiation of the Khidmat
Negara conscription program. As of 2008, he is Minister of Science,
Technology, and Innovation.
Berita Sabah (Sabah News), a weekly compact newspaper partly owned by Jeffrey
Kitingan, has its publication license suspended by the Ministry of Home
Affairs in August 1997. The newspaper published news from the opposition and
various pro-PBS news. The license was revoked on the grounds of "spreading
fitnah (lies)".
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