Don’t regard July 22 as Independence Day of S’wak – lawyer
SIBU: Lawyer Robert Lau said July 22 should not be regarded as the Independence Day of Sarawak.
Speaking at a forum hosted by the Sarawak Liberation Movement in a leading hotel here on Sunday, he said July 22 is instead a day when the state had its own government with Stephen Kalong Ningkan as the first chief minister.
"It should be called the self- governing day, (Because) UK still controlled the external and security affairs. There was a British governor until September 16, 1963."
He said the situation was like in Singapore when Lee Kuan Yew was chief minister from 1959.
Lau was invited as a panel speaker on Sarawak's independence.
He said he attended it because it was Sarawak Day celebration and the event was the only one hosted in line with it.
He said four questions were put to the panellists at the event, of which he considered two as of significance to the celebration.
On whether Sarawak has gained independence, he answered: "It's a yes and no answer. In form, yes, Sarawak has gained independence. Legally there is a route to independence by joining an independent country or forming a new country. This is accepted by UN. Sarawak went through that route, same for Singapore and North Borneo."
Using Singapore as an example, he said: "From September 16, 1963 until August 9, 1965, was Singapore independent? Can a country have two independence? Singapore had another independence on August 9 1965, and that is the one they still celebrate.”
However, he said there was a counter argument that we were not independent as we did not have our rights (or more correctly we lost our rights over the years).
"Our wealth and power have been taken away. The rights and safeguards under MA63 and IGC report have not been honoured. So in substance, we have not achieved independence or it has lost its independence, after the rights under the MA63 were eroded."
He said the key reason Singapore broke off from Malaysia was because Lee Kwan Yew and Malaya could not see eye to eye on many issues, and Lee was not willing to compromise.