Voon highlights five peaceful, legal strategies in pursuit of Sarawak’s independence
KUCHING: There is no prohibition under the law for Sabah and Sarawak to exit from the Federation of Malaysia by lawful and peaceful means, said Voon Lee Shan.
Citing the recent incident where Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) candidate for Miri Datuk Lawrence Lai was instructed to remove his banners on the Referendum Act, the Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president said the instruction was an act of harassment.
“Recently, there were certain people and relevant authorities who asked Datuk Lawrence Lai to remove his banner where he had stated that he will fight for the Referendum Act.
“The Referendum Act is important because we can seek public’s opinion to decide whether they want to stay in Malaysia or not. That is the purpose of the referendum.
“By asking him to remove his banner, I consider this as harassment and damage to Lawrence’s property,” he told a press conference at his office here yesterday.
Voon, who is contesting in Bandar Kuching this election under the PSB ticket, said there are five ‘peaceful and legal’ strategies that could be pursued by the people of Sarawak and Sabah to seek independence from the federation of Malaysia.
“First – by the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) as was done by Kosovo from Serbia in 2008 in which the United Nations International Court of Justice said that the UDI by Kosovo from Serbia was not against international law. This meant what was done by Kosovo was legal under international law.
“Second – by negotiations with parent countries. Legal opinions are that Sarawak and Sabah are ‘colonies of the federation’ of Malaya or at least are treated as ‘colonies’ of the federation of Malaya. This is because Malaya controls parliament and the federal cabinet,” he explained.
The third strategy, he said, was to file suits in High Court to declare the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as null and void and that Malaysia should be dissolved.
“Fourthly, by bringing the matter concerning the legality or invalidity of the formation of Malaysia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“This could only be done by the Sarawak government. PBK hopes the day will come that PBK will form the Sarawak government to take the matter to ICJ,” said Voon.
“The case of Chagos Islands was delivered by ICJ in February 2019 in which ICJ advised that colonies could not sign any international agreement with parent countries.
“It is opined by legal experts that the MA63 signed by Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore with United Kingdom and Malaya to form Malaysia was an invalid international agreement because at that time Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore were still colonies of United Kingdom and therefore could not sign the agreement,” he said, adding that Malaya was already an independent nation at that time.
Voon said the last strategy was for members of the Parliament to file a Private Member’s Bill or Private Member’s Motion in Parliament to declare MA63 null and void or to dissolve Malaysia.
“This could be done by any MPs and MPs from PBK will definitely do it,” he asserted.
“I pray voters understand the stand of PBK in pursuit of independence and seek Sarawakians to come in full force, to vote and determine the future of Sarawak,” said Voon.
PBK is part of a tripartite collaboration with Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) for the 15th General Election.
Also present at the press conference were PSB Stampin candidate Lue Cheng Hing; and also PBK’s Raymond Thong and Wong Tun Teck.