By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, May 25: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan has likened Sarawak joining Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia as “a child born dead”, stating no one can revive a dead child.
“The child was born dead, that is my view. That is why we took up the suit. Malaysia was not properly constituted. That is why we took up the suit.
“When the child was born dead, how can you revive it? I am trying to reconstruct the whole thing,” said Voon.
He said this to the media at Kuching Court Complex here today, after Kuching High Court struck out the suit. Voon, Alex Kong and Peli Aron represented 11 Sarawakians who had filed the suit against the Malaysian, British and Sarawak governments to nullify Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Voon said he had put many years of efforts into the matter and despite the unfavourable decision of the High Court, he stayed guided by the court’s decision.
“Most important of all, our message is clear. (We are) hoping that it will be heard by the people of Sabah and Sarawak, and also of Malaya, that there is a window there for us to take the matter, in a democracy, to court.
“There is democracy in court, there is fairness. Let the younger generations see how the matter will go on. We have so many strategies to consider, the court is one of them, which is also important,” said Voon.
He believed that bringing the matter to court was one of the ways to keep the issue alive.
For the time being, he was uncertain if there will be an appeal, pending instruction from his clients to do so.
“I pray for the people of Sarawak to stay calm and know their rights. We must know our rights. We don’t want to be mistreated.
“This (the suit) should put the federal government to be on their toes, not to mistreat Sabah and Sarawak,” said Voon.
Meanwhile, Sarawak Legal Adviser JC Fong who represented the Sarawak government told the media that he had left the matter to the Court and now that the Court had ruled, he accepted the decision.
The Kuching High Court today struck out a lawsuit filed by 11 Sarawakians seeking to invalidate MA63 which Voon was the lead counsel.
The 11 Sarawakians filed the suit on Nov 24, 2011, with the intention of having the court assess the validity of the MA63 declaration and the legitimacy of Malaysia’s formation.
On April 13, 2022, the Sarawak government filed an application to dismiss the suit. — DayakDaily
