By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, Nov 18: The Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Steering Committee meeting in Putrajaya today has “gone well”.
“It went well. I will issue a press statement on that tomorrow,” said Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Assistant Minister Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali when met at Masjid Darul Abidin in Petra Jaya this evening.
The MA63 meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and attended by Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Minister of Works Baru Bian and others.
On Dec 17 last year, Mahathir chaired the first steering committee meeting to review MA63 as part of the federal government’s efforts to restore Sabah and Sarawak’s status as equal partners in Malaysia.
On Sept 5 this year, Liew said the final report from the Cabinet special committee to review the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) has been completed.
It was said that the committee had looked into several matters, pertaining on the status of MA63 in the context of existing legislation and the rights of Sabah and Sarawak to their natural resources, amendment of Article 1 of the Federal Constitution, and administrative matters that could be delegated to the two states.
The committee has set end of October as the deadline for the meeting to come to a conclusion. However, until now, nothing conclusive has ever been announced. — DayakDaily
