By Karen Bong
KUCHING, March 18: The entity that was formed on Malaysia Day, by right, should be described as the ‘Confederation of Malaysia’, comprising the sovereign and what ought to be the independent states or nations of Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah, and Singapore which later declared independence with all equal in status.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak Bandar Kuching branch chief Dominique Ng raised this in his debate entitled ‘Empowering the rights of Sarawak and Sabah in the Malaysia Madani framework’ at the PKR special congress held in Kuala Lumpur, which was streamed live via Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s social media today.
“The restoration of the status of Sarawak and Sabah as the Borneon states following the amendment to Article 1(2) of the constitution in December 2021 was an important landmark in the sad and distorted story of Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysia.
“In brief, Sarawak and Sabah are actually nations because the word ‘state’ used internationally can and often does mean ‘nation’. As such, referring to Sarawak and Sabah as states were not very inaccurate,” he said.
Ng emphasised that knowing the real history of how Malaysia came about, as well as the actual contents and legal consequences of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), was crucial in empowering the rights of Sarawak and Sabah in the Malaysia Madani framework.
“As a representative from Sarawak, I will not apologise for what I am going to deliver today because Sarawak and Sabah, ever since the formation of Malaysia, have not been getting what they ought to get.
“What happened on Sept 16, 1963, was the coming together of four entities by the names of the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo or Sabah to form a new entity by the name of Malaysia. Prior to that, there was no nation called Malaysia.
“Malaysia did not come from the Federation of Malaya, which added the states of Sarawak and Sabah,” he elaborated.
He also mentioned that Aug 31, 1957, is the Independence Day of the Federation of Malaya and not the National Day of Malaysia.
While Ng also has doubts about the legality of MA63, which he did not have time to delve into, he, however, commended that PKR president Anwar has started out on the right track.
“For one, on his (Anwar’s) very first visit to Sarawak as Prime Minister on Jan 19, 2023, he had announced that Sarawak would be allocated RM300 million every year from the unity government.
“In addition, he has also tasked a Deputy Prime Minister from Sarawak, Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof, not only to chair the new MA63 Committee but to implement the matters enshrined in MA63, whatever that may be,” he said. — DayakDaily
