First MA63 committee meeting a good start – MP
KOTA KINABALU: Democratic Action Party (DAP) member of parliament for Kota Kinabalu Chan Foong Hin said the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Technical Committee had finally held its first meeting yesterday in Putrajaya.
“There are three levels: Steering Committee, Technical Committee and Working Committee. The Steering Committee which is chaired by the Prime Minister himself held its first meeting on 17th December last year. Today the Technical Committee finally met and managed to agree in general the timeline and agenda, which includes the appointment of members for each of the Working Committee,” he said.
Chan had during his debate on the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysia Plan in the last parliament sitting urged the federal government to call for a meeting for the Malaysia Agreement Review Committees as soon as possible so that there would be no further delay in the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement.
Chan, who is among the first batch of 16 committee members appointed into the Technical Committee, stated that he was very honoured to be appointed together with other state law makers and experts on the matter.
“It is not an easy task but I am confident that with my experience as a lawmaker in both the Sabah state assembly and now in the federal parliament, I can contribute Sabahan Federalist’s voice into the discussion and to reach a solution that will bring the most benefit to all Sabahans.”
Chan, who is also secretary of DAP Sabah, described the meeting as being fruitful as a strict timeline had been fixed for the deliverables, and the committee members were keen to go to the core of the matters straight away, mainly the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement.
“All three committees are given six months to prepare a comprehensive report to the cabinet containing proposals and suggestions leading to the amendment of the Federal Constitution, including but not limited to Article 1(2).
“The Technical Committee itself will be meeting at least once a month and from there we will be able to monitor closely the progress of the work done by the Working Committee and ensure that things are moving along.”