Kitingan supports Adenan’s stand on Sarawak’s position in Malaysia
KUCHING: STAR Sabah president Datuk Dr
Jeffrey Kitingan has complimented Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri
Adenan Satem for insisting that Sarawak is equal to Malaya and that the
1976 constitutional amendments downgrading Sabah and Sarawak to be the
12th and 13th States is null and void.
Taking his hat off to Adenan for calling a spade a spade, the Bingkor
(Sabah) assemblyman said it reflected his (Jeffrey’s) and his United
Borneo Front’s (UBF) stand.
“It needs to be re-emphasised that the ultimate objective of the
British government was to form a confederation of five territories
comprising the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo
(now Sabah) and Brunei, although Brunei declined the merger eventually.
“It was also on this basis that the then Prime Minister of Malaya,
Tunku Abdul Rahman, and his entourage of Malayan Ministers agreed with
the Prime Minister of Britain, to create a Federation of Malaysia
embracing the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo
(now Sabah) and Brunei at the Anglo-Malayan London Talks in November
1961,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
According to Jeffrey, this agreement to create the Federation of
Malaysia was affirmed in the joint British-Malayan statement after the
conclusion of the London Talks and also recorded in the British
Parliament as reported by the Hansard on Nov 28, 1961.
Further, he said, when the Cobbold Commission was formed in 1962 and
tasked to seek the views of Sabahans and Sarawakians on the Malaysia
proposal, the Chairman of the Cobbold Commission, Lord Cobbold, had
forewarned that: “If any idea was to take root that Malaysia would
involve a takeover of the Borneo Territories by the Federation of Malaya
and the submersion of the individualities of North Borneo and Sarawak,
Malaysia would not, in my judgment, be generally acceptable or
successful.”
Jeffrey stated that the Federation of Malaysia was never about Sabah
and Sarawak joining the Federation of Malaya as the 12th and 13th
States.
“If it was, there was no necessity for the signing of the Malaysia
Agreement 1963 (MA63) as all that was required would be for Sabah,
Sarawak and Singapore to subscribe to the Federation of Malaya Agreement
1957 signed by the eleven Malayan States.
“If it was even told to the Sabah and Sarawak founding fathers that
Sabah and Sarawak would join as the 12th and 13th States of Malaya, they
would have respectfully declined and there would have been no Malaysia
today.”
He said one could only ruefully imagine what Sabah and Sarawak would be today if they had not agreed to form Malaysia back then.
“In all probability given their oil and gas wealth, Sarawak
contributing RM55 billion and Sabah another RM20 billion annually, they
would be like Singapore and Brunei, the third and fifth richest nations
in the world.
“Instead, Sabah and Sarawak are languishing as the poorest and second
poorest State in Malaysia with almost all their wealth siphoned off to
develop Malaya.”
Be that as it may, Jeffrey said, Sabah and Sarawak did agree to form Malaysia as equal partners, for better or for worse.
“The Federation of Malaya now masquerading as the Federation of
Malaysia and its federal government has no business to make the 1976
constitutional amendments lumping Sabah and Sarawak with the other 11
States of Malaya and downgrading them to be the 12th and 13th States of
Malaya and renamed as the Federation of Malaysia.”
Two ways to right the wrong done in 1976
Peter Sibon,
reporters@theborneopost.com
KUCHING: There are two ways to undo the
1976 amendment to the Federal Constitution that cost Sarawak its rights
as stated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Former Bau-Lundu MP Patrick Anek Uren, who is a lawyer, said one
option was through Parliament and the other via the State Legislative
Assembly (DUN)—as the august House was a signatory of the Agreement.
“It is technically impossible to reverse the amendment done to the
Federal Constitution in 1976 because Sarawak and Sabah have only 65
members of parliament, out of the 222,” he told The Borneo Post
yesterday.
“But the reversal can be done if DUN passed a unanimous motion to
reverse the decision and get Putrajaya to amend the Federal Constitution
… as Sarawak DUN is part of the signatory of the Malaysia Agreement of
1963.”
Anek, who was MP from 1974 to 1986, was then Parliamentary Secretary
to the Ministry of Welfare; hence, he claimed he was unable to debate on
the matter before the Bill was passed.
“In any case, both the chief ministers of Sarawak and Sabah consented
to the amendment: so there was nothing we could do about it.”
The chief minister of Sarawak then was the late Tun Datuk Patinggi
Abdul Rahman Ya’kub and Sabah’s chief minister then was Tan Sri Harris
Salleh.
Anek was commenting on a statement by Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan
Satem when he closed a seminar on the history of Sarawak here on Sunday.
The chief minister insisted that Sarawak’s right as an equal partner
in the federation should be restored. He hinted that MPs from Sarawak
might propose in Parliament to reinstate an article of the Federal
Constitution to enable the state to regain powers that had eroded over
the years and also via direct negotiations with the federal government.
“Before that (the amendment in 1976), it says the states of Malaysia
shall be (a) the states of West Malaysia, (b) Sarawak and Sabah, and (c)
Singapore. Of course, Singapore no more lah. Now there is only one
category,” he told reporters covering the event.
However, Adenan was quick to add: “No, partners by virtue of the
Malaysia Agreement. The agreement was between Malaya, Sabah (then North
Borneo), Sarawak, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, of course.
And when
you are parties to an agreement, you are equal.”
Anek opined that what was done in 1976 could be considered ‘ultra vires’ as it was against the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement.
“I fully support the statement made by our chief minister that
Sarawak should be considered one of the three regions that formed
the Federation of Malaysia after Singapore left in 1965.
“Once that is achieved, we can ask for bigger development allocations
from the federal government. Right now, we will never have enough
allocation from the federal government because we are just one of the
states.”
To develop Sarawak to be on par with the peninsula, Sarawak needed at least RM40 billion annually, he estimated.
“That amount is fair considering that Sarawak contributes at least RM122
billion to the federal coffer annually.”
Meanwhile, former Saratok MP Dato Sri Edmund Langgu Saga said he
could not recall what transpired during Parliament sitting in 1976 even
though he was deputy minister of agriculture then.
“I can’t recall what transpired in Parliament 40 years ago; perhaps,
I was too busy carrying out my duties as a deputy minister.”
However, Langgu, who was an MP from 1963 to 1987, pointed out that he
was always daring enough to stand up for the interest of the State.
“But as a member of the Cabinet, we cannot take part in the debates
of any Bill. But suffice for me to say that the amendment of the Federal
Constitution in 1976 was unfair to Sarawak as it had reduced our state
to one of the 13 states in Malaysia. The Malaysia Agreement should not
have been amended in Parliament,” said Langgu.
“So I hope our chief minister will right the wrong that had been done
40 years ago so that we can develop Sarawak and make it on par with the
peninsula.”
Adenan
is a lawyer and so he knows best that 831 is not the National day for
Sarawak.But he still misled Sarawakians
to celebrate the day which means nothing at all but wastes taxpayers’ money
only.Besides, he should not behave like
a shrew to complain behind the imperialist.He should set the time limit to establish the autonomy for Sarawak.First, get back what belongs to us.Ditch out all the Federal Departments in
Sarawak.Only the terms and conditions agreed in MA63
should be upheld and any adulterations to the Agreements should be deemed as
violation to the said MA63.
