KUCHING, April 6: Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang has advised the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to stick to their promises and honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in Parliament first.
Once Malaya honours MA63, Lo opined that the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution, including other amendments, would naturally follow to reinstate Sarawak’s original status as accorded in MA63.
“PH should just stick to their original promises to firstly honour MA63 and pass it through Parliament. Honour MA63 like what they had preached and promised during GE14 (14th General Election),” he said in a press statement today.
“If we amend only Article 1(2) now without first honouring MA63, we are digging our own grave as there would be more things to be amended. When will we ever finish amending everything?”
Lo questioned whether this delay tactic was meant to dupe Sarawak for umpteen more years or until its oil resources run dry.
Looking at the route the PH government is taking in restoring what Sarawak rightly deserves, Lo believed it would take at least 10 years or much more to complete.
“But along the way, history will be forgotten, and the generations after us will miss out on this and that, and we will be back to square one. The original intent of MA63 will be eroded and Sarawakians and future generations of Sarawakians will never get our rights back,” he cautioned.
Lo opined it would be wiser to insist on honouring the MA63 first in Parliament and comply religiously to all the clauses under MA63 because that is the spirit of an Agreement.
“We want to see tabled in Parliament a repeal of the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974, a repeal of the Sea Territorial Act (STA) 2012 and documented assurance that Sabah and Sarawak will have equal representation of seats compared to Malaya,” he added.
MA63, he highlighted, is an international treaty registered by the UK government on Sept 21, 1970, thus making it a United Nations (UN) treaty.
“Why is there no respect for a UN treaty? If Malaya refuses to comply with MA63, the agreement is nullified and Sarawak regains her independence,” he said. — DayakDaily
