MA63, Federal Constitution infringed since formation of M’sia – Former rep

KUCHING: The federal government has on numerous occasions infringed the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Federal Constitution since the formation of Malaysia, alleged a former state lawmaker, Dominique Ng.

The former Padungan assemblyman said such infringement had brought the people to question the validity of the MA63.

Ng said the federal government did not seek consensus from the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) prior to tabling and passing the Petroluem Development Act 1974 and Territorial Sea Act 2012.

He quoted a scholar from Sabah as saying that the federal government had infringed the MA63 at least 50 times, to date.

“Even if there was only a onetime infringement, it is still an infringement, let alone 50 times. This says a lot about whether the MA63 still has legal force,” he said during a talk organised by the Voice of Sarawak at a restaurant here on Saturday night.

Ng asserted that Malaysia should cease to exist if the MA63 had no legal force.

He felt that Sarawakians had nothing to lose given that their home state was never treated fairly or as an equal partner since the formation of Malaysia.

According to him, a team formed by 15 counsels is in the midst of bringing a suit against the federal government in the hope of seeing the state’s rights restored.

He said the Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) could be rendering support to the team in filing the case against Putrajaya.

“Suing the federal government is part of the process to determine whether the MA63 still has legal force,” he added.

Former Batu Lintang assemblyman Voon Lee Shan, who was among the speakers at the event, said Sarawak was not treated as an equal partner since the formation of Malaysia.

He claimed that Sarawak had wound up as a ‘colony’ in Malaysia.

Pointing out that the Malaysian Parliament presently has 222 MPs, Voon said the combined number of MPs from Sarawak and Sabah did not even make one-third of the total.

“In other words, if Parliament is to table a bill, the bill can be easily passed without any vote from Sarawak and Sabah.”

He charged that the reason Federation of Malaya welcomed Sarawak and Sabah on board to form Malaysia over five decades ago was because of the natural resources both the Bornean states have, particularly the oil and gas in Sarawak.

He also called upon Sarawakians to reject Peninsulabased political parties; namely Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in the next state election.