Soo doubts legal team can do much in a short time
KUCHING: The time frame of four to five days for the Sarawak legal team to study the state’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in London is insufficient, said activist Lina Soo.
She expressed her concern that their mission may be just a jaunt to the archives as ‘realistically it is not possible to pull out much documents within a time frame of three to five days’.
“I congratulate the state government for making the brave decision to send a legal team to the British archives to scrutinise Sarawak’s rights under MA63.
“Even though I am shocked that it has taken our state government more than 50 years to realise that they are not clear what rights have been taken away by the federal government, it is better late than never,” she told a press conference here yesterday.
However, she said that the short time frame for the legal team to uncover the truth regarding Sarawak’s rights and constitutional position in the Federation of Malaysia was defi nitely insufficient.
In view of this, Soo opined that the legal team would have to study all resource information available locally fi rst.
“This is not the first time Sarawakians on their own initiative have visited the British archives and indeed, there are already thousands of documents available on the negotiations leading up to the formation of Malaysia where Sarawak’s rights and safeguards were thrashed out, set out in the Inter-governmental Report and fi nally formalised in the MA63 where more than 50 state rights are set in concrete,” she said, adding that MA63 is an international treaty between five nations and can never be amended unless all five signatories go back to the negotiating table.
Describing herself as a researcher on Sarawak constitutional documents and of the British declassified colonial documents from 1841 until the present day, Soo said she will voluntarily hand over her work which the legal team can peruse in preparation for the trip.
“Much of the information have been sourced first-hand by myself which I carried out during my one-month research in London last August. I have selected and compiled the important constitutional documents and published two books namely ‘Sarawak - The Real Deal’ and ‘ Sarawak Chronicle - Letters, Agreements, Laws and International Treaties’.
“I am ready to provide my books and my set of British colonial documents to the legal team free of charge to assist in their mission and invite a representative to contact me to arrange for the delivery of the materials,” she said.
As an activist for Sarawak’s rights, Soo said she will continue to educate Sarawakians on their rights under MA63 by speaking at public talks and book tours.
“In fact, I will be holding a public talk on MA63 at Paramount Hotel in Sibu on July 22 at 1.30pm in conjunction with Sarawak Day. The forum is free and members of the public are cordially invited to attend. The bigger picture for Sarawak must always be kept in view and must rise above and over politics,” she stressed.
For further enquiries regarding the talk, Soo can be contacted at 014- 5950511.