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SUPP wants equal footing for federal govt, Sarawak and Sabah in MA63 Committee

Michael Tiang

        KUCHING: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government must initiate an Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) for the Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to meet and honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
The PH government, by heading and dominating the MA63 Special Cabinet Committee, will defeat the original spirit and intent of the three regions coming together to form Malaysia in 1963, said Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth chief Michael Tiang.
     “In order to sincerely and effectively review the enforcement of MA63 after 55 years of the formation of Malaysia, for a start, the PH government must initiate an IGC for Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to meet and honour MA63,” he said yesterday.
Tiang, who is a political secretary to the chief minister, noted that the MA63 Special Cabinet Committee has only two state representatives each from Sabah and Sarawak.
        The two representatives are the Chief Minister and State Attorney General (AG), he said.
     “The rest are mostly federal cabinet members and federal officers. I’m afraid by setting up the committee in such composition, it is definitely not intended to set a convincing platform for inter-governmental in nature, not to mention to review equal partnership of both Sabah and Sarawak in the federation,” he said.
Works Minister Baru Bian from Sarawak and International Trade and Industry Darell Leiking from Sabah are among the federal cabinet ministers in the special committee.
        As such, Tiang said he supported Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s earlier suggestion that the special committee should follow in the footsteps of the IGC 1962 structure.
       The SUPP man said the committee should comprise the three governments (federal government, Sarawak government and Sabah government) headed by the British, which serves as a neutral party to the federation.
    “It should not be a steering committee under the federal cabinet headed by the prime minister. The first footing is already not made on the right path.
    “To review MA63 enforcement in Malaysia, the three governments should be given chances to meet on an equal footing too,” asserted Tiang.
Back in 1962, he said there were five representatives from the British, eight from Malaya, 10 from Sarawak and eight from Sabah.
   “Each brought their own AG, state secretary, financial secretary, chief minister and other relevant members of the state assembly,” he added.
Last Wednesday, de-facto Law Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong announced the formation of the MA63 Special Cabinet Committee to review and propose measures to rectify the status of Sabah and Sarawak.
      He said the committee, headed by the prime minister, comprised eight federal ministers and other members including Abang Johari and Sabah Chief Minister  Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
      The eight ministers are Liew, Baru, Darell, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Azmin Ali, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
       According to Liew, the committee will meet in a month’s time, after which it will hold a meeting once a month for the next six months.
       He said everything including oil royalty and other developments will be discussed, adding: “We would like to go to the core of  the matter, mainly the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement.”