Fitnah Sarra 2 in Sabah and others

 As a political metaphor, Sabah fits this description precisely: a resource-rich state locked in an inherently unstable arrangement where local leadership repeatedly accepts central patronage over enforcing constitutional rights.

This dynamic—where a peripheral region generates vast national wealth while its local elites accept dependent, subordinate arrangements—is a recognized structural pattern known in political science as internal colonialism or subordinated fiscal federalism.

Global Analogues Exhibiting the Same Structural Pattern

• The Niger Delta, Nigeria (Rivers & Delta States): Generates over 70% of Nigeria’s national revenue through crude oil extraction, yet suffers from extreme environmental degradation, crumbling infrastructure, and severe poverty. Local governors and political elites routinely accept central "derivation fund" allocations from Abuja and personal political patronage rather than enforcing regional environmental laws or demanding full resource control.
• Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), Indonesia: Home to the Grasberg mine—one of the world's largest gold and copper reserves—which heavily funds the central treasury in Jakarta. Local leaders are integrated into Jakarta's political machinery through "Special Autonomy" (Otsus) funds, which create a layer of dependent local administration while core mineral rights and security decisions remain strictly centralized.
• Katanga (Haut-Katanga), Democratic Republic of Congo: Produces the vast majority of the world's cobalt and high-grade copper, powering global green technology. Despite generating billions in foreign exchange, local provincial leaders operate under fragile political pacts with the central government in Kinshasa, leaving Katanga's municipal infrastructure, roads, and healthcare system in near-total ruin.
• Scotland (1970s–1990s, Pre-Devolution): During the peak of the North Sea oil boom, the UK Treasury extracted hundreds of billions of pounds in oil tax revenue to fund central economic restructuring. Local Scottish political leaders accepted standard Westminster budgetary allocations for decades, maintaining a "quiet" union until the political friction eventually catalyzed the 1997 devolution referendum and the creation of the Scottish Parliament.

The Common Political Mechanism

In every instance, the central authority maintains control not merely through physical force, but by constructing a local leadership class that depends on the center for political survival, legal protection, and personal funding. The resulting political "peace" is structurally weak—like a heavy hip resting on a fragile rib—because it fails to deliver basic economic justice to the local population, guaranteeing that institutional instability and popular resentment remain beneath the surface.