When policy meets Sabah’s reality

WHENEVER I’m back in Kota Kinabalu, I try to visit my favourite barbershop in Luyang. It’s a dying trade, and this shop is one of the few left in Sabah (and Malaysia) that still offers a traditional straight-razor shave and ear-cleaning. As I was midway through an ear-cleaning, blissfully drifting towards a nap, the customer in the next chair began an animated tirade in Chinese. I couldn’t understand most of it, but a couple of words in Malay and English, “budi” and “diesel”, gave me an idea of the topic. The man’s tone was angry, and I didn’t need to…