CM’s statement on MA63 ‘clear and brave’ — UPP advisor
KUCHING: It is heartening to hear the ‘ clear and brave statement’ of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg that ‘Sarawak rights enshrined in Malaysia Agreement 1963 ( MA63) are not negotiable’ during his winding-up on Wednesday.
United People’s Party ( UPP) advisor Dr Chou Chii Ming said: “I assess that the people of Sarawak are heartened to read the clear and brave statement of Abang Johari in his winding-up speech.”
He said the chief minister had made it loud and crystal clear that ‘Sarawak rights in MA63 are not negotiable’.
“The people of Sarawak have regarded MA63 as a trust deed defining their rights when the British colonial government agreed for Sarawak to form Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Chou said he believed that Sarawakians would give their utmost support to Abang Johari to lead the Sarawak government in taking back all the rights in MA63.
In his winding-up speech, Abang Johari said Sarawak’s special rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution in accordance with MA63 are protected, safeguarded and strictly non-negotiable.
He added that these special rights include immigration autonomy, rights to taxation powers like the imposition of State Sales Tax, port dues for state ports, royalty for minerals and timber, etc, rights to natural resources including land, protection of the state’s boundaries which extend to the Continental Shelf of Sarawak, and the right to formulate the state’s own Development Plan and declare its own development areas under Article 95E of the Federal Constitution.