Datuk Sebastian Ting to Federal Education Minister: Start off by correcting the inaccuracies in history text book.

suppadmin | October 10, 2018

Piasau State Assemblyman, Datuk Sebastian Ting wanted the Federal Education Minister to start off by rectifying the inaccuracies in the history textbooks to tie in with the amendments proposed by De facto law Minister for next year. The history textbooks should be accurate regarding the formation of Malaysia where Sarawak and Sabah never joined Malaya in 1957 but formed Malaysia with Malaya, Singapore and Sabah on 16 September 1963. Hopefully, the corrected history syllabus can be ready for next year students. Please do the necessary so that our students will henceforth know the correct facts on the formation of Malaysia.

In making the call, Ting said SUPP welcomed the announcement by the De Facto Law Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong that the Federal Government is looking seriously in restoring Sarawak as a partner to Malaya and Sabah in the Federation and is hoping to table the proposed amendment Bill in the coming parliament sitting starting on 15 October.

Liew had said there would be amendment would involve amending Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution back to the original wordings as defined under Article 4 of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). However, this amendment must be made hand in hand with corresponding amendment to Article 160 of the Federal Constitution on the definition of “the Federation”, because it is inappropriate to refer to Malaya as the Federation that was created. The change to Article 1(2) cannot be on its own.

“We believe this is a positive start towards equal partnership and getting back all the special rights enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Inter-Governmental Committee Report for Sarawak that were eroded over the years. The Minister or the Federal Government should not worry too much on whether the proposed amendment Bill would get the necessary two-thirds support in the parliament for the amendment Bill to be pass because we are very certain that our GPS’s Members of Parliament and the Sabah’s Members of Parliament will throw their full support if the amendment is overall good for Sarawak (including Sabah) and can assist in getting back what is rightfully ours. Therefore, it is more important for the Federal Government to focus in tabling the proposed amendment Bill as soon as possible,” he said.

Pointing out that the majority of the people of Sarawak would support this proposed amendment with the hope that with this restoration of our equal partnership in the formation, Ting added that the issue of Federal Government encroaching into our Territorial Waters boundary, laying claim of ownership over our oil and gas resources will no longer arise and our Sarawak’s ownership over our oil and gas remains intact the same as pre-Malaysia Day, with effect from the lifting of the Emergency Ordinance in 2011.

A lot of rights, he added, had eroded over the years and all these must be returned to Sarawak thus it is important to reiterate that MA63 is an International Treaty and it cannot be amended or changed without the consent and agreement by the original signatories to the Agreement.