Breakthrough promise for Sabah and Sarawak

Not all are excited about PM’s announcement to restore the two states as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia. But if it happens, much will change – and for the better.

SABAH and Sarawak to be put back as equal partners under MA63,” my colleague Muguntan Vanar, The Star Sabah bureau chief, WhatsApped me.

“Wow! That’s big,” I replied. It was Sunday night. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia would be restored.

Dr Mahathir said this was part of the process that would be implemented once the review of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63) was completed.

During the Malaysia Day celebration at Padang Merdeka in Kota Kinabalu, the Prime Minister said Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and the Federation of Malaya had agreed to form a bigger family called Malaysia.

“During the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963, in the agreement that we call MA63, the four territories merged as equal partners. The years that followed also changed the status of Sabah and Sarawak from equal partners to states within Malaysia,” he said.

As a Sabahan, I was elated. From stepchildren, Sabah and Sarawak will be equal to Peninsular Malaysia. But immediately, I was apprehensive. Will it really happen? I thought.

I was with former Sabah chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee at a dumpling shop in Luyang, near Kota Kinabalu, when I received the news.

“This is big. But what does it mean?” I asked the president of SAPP, a Sabah-based opposition party.

“Whether or not it will actually materialise as such in terms of the Constitution, parliamentary representation, political power or financial resources, we have to see.

“But the fact that the PM today announced such a major decision and recognition that Sabah and Sarawak as equal status is already a breakthrough,” he said.

“Even if we don’t get immediate legal or financial or political recognition, the announcement itself is already a breakthrough for the future development of Malaysia as a more viable and stable federation.

“It opens up a pathway to more autonomy for Sabah and Sarawak. Let us not pretend that tomorrow things will improve immediately, but for now, we will be quoting what the Prime Minister said today as a promise. And this will be drummed in various forums and it will be used as a basis that we have been right all along.”

Soon after Dr Mahathir’s announcement, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing WhatsApp-ed me.

“Of the 55 years of Malaysia, Tun M was the PM for 22 years (almost one half ). He was a senior Umno leader. He was in the position to make good MA63. What did he do? Nothing!” he wrote.

“Probably his second coming as PM is for him to make good all the wrongs he did to Sarawak and Sabah. His blame game is not convincing nor sincere!

“All he has to do is just honour MA63. Repeal PDA74 (Petroleum Development Act 1974) & TSA (Territorial Sea Act 2012) and ask Petronas to pay back what they have taken from us!! No more promises and no more rhetoric! JUST DO them!!”

If there is one Sabahan who has been fighting for the restoration of Sabah’s rights, it is Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, president of Star Sabah, a Sabah-based opposition party.

Like Masing, Dr Jeffrey was not too excited about Dr Mahathir’s big news.

“Restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners to Malaya as per the original Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution doesn’t mean much if the rights of the Borneo States in Article 8 of MA63 and in the Federal Constitution are ignored and not implemented as had happened in the last 55 years of Malaysia,” said the Keningau MP and Tambunan assemblyman.

“Will we really get equal partner status?” I asked him.

“I doubt it. But who knows? This time around, Mahathir may have realised the seriousness of the Sabah and Sarawak struggles. This is his second chance of being PM and, at 93, his perspective may have changed. I will give Mahathir the benefit of my doubt.”

As a Sabahan, I’m also apprehensive over whether the promise will be a reality. We’ve been lied to too many times by the federal government. For example, nothing came out from the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on my state’s longstanding issue of illegal immigrants.

The illegal immigrant problem is huge. It changed the political demography of Sabah.

It is not fair, according to de facto Law Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Liew Vui Keong, to compare Dr Mahathir’s announcement to the RCI.

“As to why it didn’t happen, you will have to put that question to the leaders of the previous government such as (former Sabah deputy chief minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan) and (former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman) who were responsible for it during their reign,” he said.

“How different will Sabah and Sarawak be if its status as equal partner to Malaya is restored?” I asked Liew.

“Once our status is restored, we’ll enjoy more than before in terms of wealth distribution, regional and economic developments that will spur more jobs and opportunities for our people,” said the Parti Warisan Sabah permanent chairman and Batu Sapi MP.

“We’ll also be able to have more control in our educational system, immigration and in the administration of our state agencies.”

Top on my list is religious freedom, English as a medium of instruction in national schools in Sabah and the strengthening of Native Court (which allows natives to marry as many as they want).

Sabah and Sarawak are unique. We need to preserve that.