Kota Kinabalu: Although the IGC Report 1963 and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 were not fully incorporated into the Malaysia Act 1963 and the Federal Constitution, their sanctity and quasi-constitutional status have been reiterated at various times by the courts in several landmark cases.

“(Nevertheless), the legal status of these historical documents and international treaties – namely the MA63 and the IGC Report – is now constitutionalised in the Constitutional Amendment Act 2022,” said Emeritus Prof. Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi. 

He was speaking at the Sabah launch of “My Country and I: The Malaysia Agreement 1963 children book” at the Tanjung Aru Library recently in the presence of the authors Datin Fazar Arif and Mazlianie Mohd Lan.

The Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) report involved discussions among the leaders of then Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo on the basis for the formation of the new nation.