KUCHING, Feb 27: Getting rid of imperialism from the Federation of Malaya by completing and adhering to the decolonisation process under United Nations (UN) Resolutions 1514 and 1541 could be a step forward for Sarawak and Sabah to restore its rights, especially to oil and gas.
Lawyer-cum-former Batu Lintang assemblyman Voon Lee Shan opined that UN Resolution 1514 showed the route to decolonisation.
“If Sabahans and Sarawakians want to become millionaires, make sure to get back all the oil and gas that belonged to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said in a statement today.
Both states, he elaborated, were colonies of the British Empire before they were handed to the Federation of Malaya before the decolonisation process took place under UN Resolution 1514.
The state governments of Sabah and Sarawak, he suggested, had to make representations to Putrajaya for a joint declaration to say that the acquisition of Sabah and Sarawak by the Federation of Malaya in 1963 be considered null and void.
“This is because MA63 (Malaysia Agreeement 1963) was an unenforceable Treaty and no terms under an unenforceable treaty should be raised for discussion and/or negotiation.
“There should not be such a treaty without the process of decolonisation taking place as mentioned under UN Resolution 1514.”
But if Putrajaya disagrees, Voon recommended filing a court proceeding to declare MA63 null and void, not binding and not enforceable.
“The effect of this is that if MA63 is declared null and void and unenforceable, the Federation of Malaysia should be declared dissolved by the court.”
But if the matter fails in court, he said the next step would be to seek a referendum from the people, whether they still wanted to federate with the Federation of Malaya.
“If the people don’t want, this will give great political pressure to Putrajaya. Perhaps, the state Parliaments of Sabah and Sarawak may wish to declare Sabah and Sarawak independent from the Federation of Malaysia.”
If Sabah and Sarawak were to be independent and able to take back their oil and gas rights, Voon reckoned that the governments of Sabah and Sarawak could easily make Sabahans and Sarawakians millionaires by distributing revenue from the crude oil to be shared by their citizens.
“It is estimated that revenue from crude oil for Sarawak is around RM280 million per day. With a population of 2.8 million, every Sarawakian can easily become a millionaire from crude oil revenues alone.” — DayakDaily
