MA63: Outcome of meeting next month

KUCHING: The outcome of an inaugural meeting of the Special Cabinet Committee (SCC) to review the Malaysia Agreement on Dec 17 will be announced next month, says Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

The details would be disclosed after a meeting with the Consultative Committee of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) on Jan 3, he added.

"I will provide the details on the matter after the Sarawak DUN Consultative Committee meeting on Jan 3," he said when met at the Christmas open house of Tasik Biru assemblyman Dato Henry Harry Jinep at Bung Konis, Jalan Singgai in Bau near here on Tuesday.

His wife Datin Patinggi Datuk Amar Juma'ani Tun Tuanku Bujang, Minister of Tourism Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Early Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah were among the distinguished visitors.

Abang Johari said the Dec 17 meeting ran smoothly with Sarawakian members in the SCC free to raise several pertinent issues specific to Sarawak.

"It was a good meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. We have stated our stand and made it clear Sarawak's position in MA63," he said.

Apart from Abang Johari, the Dec 17 SCC meeting was also attended by Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and legal experts from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

The meeting was in line with the federal government's commitment to review the MA63 and its implementation, particularly on the autonomous right of Sabah and Sarawak over several jurisdictions including finance, oil and gas exploration and mining, law, land, timber, state and federal works, maritime, fishery, human resource and public civil service.