KUCHING, Dec 9: The Sabah Sarawak Rights Australia New Zealand (SSRANZ) has called on Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim to repeal alleged laws that have taken away Sarawak’s Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) rights.
The international non-governmental organisation’s (NGO) president Robert Pei said these laws, which include the Continental Self Act 1966 and Territorial Seas Act 2012, Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74) and ACT 354 passed in 1976, if prioritised and repealed, will prove Anwar’s sincerity for the closer integration of Sabah and Sarawak as part of Malaysia.
“The new government has the two-thirds majority required to repeal ACT 354. Repealing this and the other laws will go some way to restore Sabah and Sarawak ownership and control of their oil and gas. It will allow them to use the vast revenue to finance development which is still being diverted to develop Malaya,” he said in a statement today.
He also called on the new prime minister to implement Borneonisation as part of ‘decolonisation for self-rule’ (to replace national independence) that the Borneo people were to be handed the reins of government administration.
The SSRANZ has made up a shortlist of ‘must do’ things by the new Federal unity government headed by Anwar. The list is as follows:
1. Borneonise the Sabah and Sarawak civil services and ensure that this is done on merit and not follow Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) discriminatory selection on basis of race and religion. In due course repatriate all Malayan staff unnecessarily occupying jobs meant for Sabahans and Sarawakians.
2. Repeal ACT 354 to restore articles 46 and 161E on seat allocation, Article 161D on religious freedom.
3. Malayan parties must leave Sabah and Sarawak as they breach MA63 by poaching their allocated parliamentary seats and this has the effect of disempowering them in terms of numbers in parliament.
4. Repeal PDA74 as it affects Sabah and Sarawak and open all the books of Petronas.
5. Borneonise the education service and replace Malayan teachers with local teachers and repatriate all religious teachers as these breaches the MA63 terms that there is no state religion and immigration control on safeguarding local jobs.
6. Local land held by the federal government should be returned to Sabah and Sarawak.
7. The issue of citizenship for thousands of Sabahans and Sarawakians must be solved.
8. The Sabah illegals issue must be solved either by repatriation of the illegals to their original homeland or to Malaya as this was a problem created by the federal government.
9. Restore the local defence and police forces.
10. Restore local elections.
11. Dismantle the racial discriminatory system institutionalised under the New Economic Policy from 1970.
12. The federal jurisdiction must be restricted only to national defence, foreign affairs and internal security as agreed in 1963.
“The Federal government must comply with MA63 in good faith as the multiple violations of fundamental terms would have rendered the international treaty no longer binding since 1965,” he said. — DayakDaily
