Tiang: status of Sarawak agreed upon in Malaysia Agreement 1963

suppadmin | September 19, 2018

SUPP Youth Chief Michael Tiang stated that it is not necessary to go and vote in Parliament the rights of East Malaysians as what belonged to Sabah and Sarawak is already enshrined in MA 1963.

In response to 2/3 majority in Parliament to restore Sabah and Sarawak, Tiang said,“Sabah and Sarawak’s position as equal partners in Malaysia is not a matter that should ever be subject to voting in the Parliament or reviews in any way by the federal government. The status of the two Borneo states had been agreed upon, settled and sealed by all signatories to the Malaysia Agreement in 1963,” said Michael Tiang, the Central Youth Chief of the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) in his press statement today.

“There are certain matters in the Federal Constitution that the Parliament simply has no absolute powers to amend by way of 2/3 majority. For example, can the parliament amend the name of Malaysia, the official religion or the bumiputera status from time to time, so long there is a 2/3 majority? Obviously no! These matters together with the equal partner status of both Sabah and Sarawak are the very definition of the Federation of Malaysia since 1963.”

“On such ground, it is therefore absolutely absurd for the Prime Minister or anyone to suggest that we should go back to the Parliament to try to obtain 2/3 majority support to restore Sabah and Sarawak’s position in Malaysia as equal partners. Moreover, by suggesting to put such matter to votes again in the parliament will be deemed as an insult to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.”

Clearly, the mistake began with the infamous constitution amendment done in 1976 whereby the Parliament successfully passed the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution by changing both Sabah and Sarawak’s status from one of the three territorials in Malaysia to one of the 13 states in the Federation!”

“Although many have been accusing the MPs from both Sabah and Sarawak for supporting the amendment in 1976 and condemned them for “selling out” the interests of Sabah and Sarawak, I am always of the view that the 1976 amendment was in fact ultra vires as it was done without obtaining any consent from the 2 affected Borneo States.”

“In fact MPs do not have the power to sell the interest of Sabah and Sarawak. All this while, our Sarawak MPs are only representing Sarawak people to speak up for our interests in Parliament. None of them have been given any powers or authority to vote in the Parliament to change the formation of Malaysia on behalf of Sarawak. In fact, only our Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) has such power and authority to give consent to a matter so fundamental to the formation of our nation.”

“ The “consent” can neither be given by any member of Parliament, nor a Chief Minister of a State. A consent from a state can only be considered valid when a state law passed in the DUN to give effect to such consent. This happened in 1973 when Selangor state legislative assembly passed law to give consent to the declaration of Kuala Lumpur as a federal territory. Similarly in 1984 Sabah state legislative assembly passed the law to give consent to Labuan being declared as a new federal territory. While in the past 55 years, there was never a law passed by Sarawak State Legislative Assembly to give consent to the federal government to alter the position of Sarawak to become one of the 13 states in Malaysia.”

“I therefore demand the Federal government not to drag on this matter any longer by claiming that the government requires more time to study the MA63. There shall be no further doubts or debates on the position of both Sabah and Sarawak which is clearly stated in the MA63, the Proclamation of Malaysia as well as the 1963 original provision in the Federal Constitution. The federal government is urged to take all steps necessary to restore the position of Sabah and Sarawak by annulling the 1976 amendment, amending any laws that infringe such position like the Territorial Sea Act 2012 and reviewing all history syllabus in school textbooks that teaches the wrong facts on the formation of Malaysia.”