KOTA KINABALU, Oct. 13 -- There's a local Sabahan saying going around lately that is both humourous and painful.

"Kana picit balabak" means to have your testicles or groin pinched, much like the childish bullying meant to cause pain and humiliation.

The simple yet loaded phrase describes the feeling of being bullied or subdued into submission.

It's an image that captures, perhaps more vividly than any political slogan, how helpless many Sabahans feel about their state's relationship with the federal government.

To them, it is not just about economic disparity or political marginalisation; it's also about the sense of indignity that comes from being treated as lesser than equal - a vast state with resources from both land and sea, stil...