Sabahan and Sarawakian should know their birth rights, said activist Zainnal Ajamain

suppadmin | November 23, 2015

Activist Zainnal Ajamain, the author of “the Queen’s Obligation”, wants Sarawakians to be aware of their birthrights as he gave a talk on “A Missing Piece of History” on the formation of Malaysia.

Speaking to over 100 people at the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Sa’athi Hall, Zainnal said he started to speak out when the ISA was abolished in 2011. He said according to an expert on Constitutional Expert, Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi, the repeal of ISA also means the lifting of Emergency Proclamations that would have the largest impact on the country. The lifting of the State of Emergency, Laws pertaining to Territorial Waters is also annulled. He felt Sarawak and Sabah loss out greatly for the last 52 years on what was actually theirs.

“Not every Sabahan or Sarawakian can speak their mind but we have the facts here. We show our facts and we dare to talk about it now,” he said when asked if what he was doing could get him into trouble with the law.

Zainnal said if Federal wants to get him under seditious act, by all mean do what they want, but the people now are no more ignorant, they know what is going on. They can put me in and the people will argue with them,” he said.

On why lawyers in Sabah and Sarawak never took up the topic, he said most of the lawyers have limitation on the knowledge of constitutional background and studying the constitutional law will not make money for them as they need to survive, he pointed out stating that only researcher will do that.

Zainnal said as long as there are people who wanted to sponsor and organise him to give the talk, he will do so to create a awareness among the people. Saying that it was all in his book, he said Sarawak Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem is on the right track talking about autonomy. “I am quite sure he read my book and he understands what is happening. He is an avid reader and unfortunately, not many politicians read. Adenan is already talking on rights of Sarawakian,” he added.

Saying that it was his aim to see that things are change for the betterment of Sabah and Sarawak, Zainnal said as long as people know what is going on and want change, then only things will change.

Being a voluntarily speaker, Zannial said he did not feel lonely doing this as a lot of people are with him. “I am doing all this because I feel this is necessary and God will protect me,” he added.

Zainnal has done 15 years of research including getting facts from two documents of the Inter-Governmental Committee Report and the Malaysian Agreement 1963 of which he said, the rights of Sabah and Sarawakian are enshrined.

An economist by profession, Zainnal graduated with a Master Degree from University of East Anglia. He had held several high ranking positions in the government and worked as an university lecturer, senior researcher, stock broker and published several papers in international journals.