Nancy hopes final report on devolution of power handed to Cabinet soon
KUCHING: The third and last meeting of the Technical Committee on the Devolution of Authority is expected to be held sometime next month.
In revealing this, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri hoped that the Steering Committee could submit the final report to the Cabinet for their further direction and policy decision.
“I am echoing the same tone as the newly appointed Chief Minister of Sarawak Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg in pursuing the matter and hope to have the meeting as soon as possible by February of this year so that the Steering Committee can submit the final report to the Cabinet for their further direction and policy decision,” Nancy said in a press statement issued here yesterday.
She further revealed that among the matters that were discussed in the Technical Committee meeting were finance, oil exploration, mining and gas, legislations, land and revenue from land, federal and state works, education and labour and state public service. “Some of the said issues are very technical. Therefore, it takes time for the Technical Committee members to agree on it and its members are officers from the federal government and officers from the Sarawak and Sabah state governments,” she said.
Nancy added that the Technical Committee on the Devolution of Authority which was formed to discuss the devolution of power to Sarawak and Sabah had sat for the third and the last time on Dec 1, 2016.
“However, the Steering Committee which is co- chaired by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and myself is still waiting for the Secretariat, Attorney General Chambers to get a suitable date for the Steering Committee to sit and elaborate on the Technical Committee’s Report,” she stressed.
Recently, in his first press conference soon after he was sworn in as the sixth chief minister of Sarawak, Abang Johari had given his assurance to Sarawakians that he will continue the policy of his predecessor, the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, in regards to seeking greater autonomy for the state under the Federal Constitution as well as the rights accorded to the state under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.