Restoring pre-76 status of Sabah, S’wak
Published on: Sunday, May 16, 2021
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Amendment to the Federal Constitution alone is insufficient.
His remarks have sparked numerous reactions from Sabah and Sarawak political leaders, academicians and people from all walks of life.
Rumours of the reclassification grew after a purported memo from the Communications and Multimedia Ministry instructed the National Film Development Malaysia (Finas) that Sabah and Sarawak should no longer be referred to as states in government television stations and by all relevant parties under them.
Noteworthy that to date, there is no official announcement yet to substantiate the new reclassification that Sabah and Sarawak will be referred to as “wilayah”.
I would like to clear the air that the crux of the issue here is pertinent to the status of Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation and the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
To summarise, before the declaration of the formation of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963, the United Kingdom and Malaya established an Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) with the task to formulate constitutional arrangements for the new country and safeguarding the rights and autonomy of the Borneo States.
The details of the IGC Report contained in all the documents annexed with MA63, which set out the terms and conditions in which the three states agreed to merge with the federation of Malaya to form Malaysia.
Certain parts of the Federal Constitution have been amended to incorporate the terms and agreement laid down in MA63.
Of late, we have seen many comments by people and political leaders of Sabah and Sarawak arguing the issue of Sabah and Sarawak’s right, with a clear understanding that the safeguards were to be honoured and not taken away according to the whims and fancies of the federal government.
However, they believed many facts have been altered to fit the Malaya agenda and urged netizens from both states to unite and fight for justice to be upheld.
When Malaysia was formed on Sept 16,1963, Article 1(2) said:
The States of Federation shall be –
(a) the states of Malaya, namely, Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu; and
(b) the Borneo States, namely Sabah and Sarawak;and
(c) the state of Singapore.
In 1976, Article 1(2) was amended to list all thirteen states of the federation in alphabetical order within a single category, this order led to an outcry and hardly accepted by the people of Sabah and Sarawak as they viewed this move as downgrading the status of both states in the federation.
The idea of proposing a new term as “wilayah” has never arisen in Sabah and Sarawak path asking for constitutional justice from the federation. Furthermore, since changing the new term in the Constitution should be done in Parliament and not simply issuing an executive order or administrative action, without it the Prime Minister’s remarks is only empty political talk.
Having said above, ideally, the amendment to Article 1(2) would be the first of many steps, soon to be taken towards restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak to its original position as laid down in the Federal Constitution before the 1976 downgrading amendment.
However, it remains a question as to how restoring the pre-1976 wording of Article 1(2) could enhance the position of Sabah and Sarawak.
Two important issues remain, firstly the special autonomous powers, enjoyed exclusively by both states, derive from specific provisions of the Federal Constitution (such as Article 161E and the Ninth Schedule) and legislation.
It needs to be clear how the restoration moves could help resolve actual legal issues currently outstanding, such as ownership over natural resources and continental shelves.
Lastly, it remains to be seen how it could help to resolve the socio-economic problem existing in Sabah and Sarawak.
In this regard, I have always believed that Malaysia should return to the fundamentals which were laid as the basis for the establishment of this country, the Federal Constitution, the MA63, and the IGC Report, and based solely on rule of law, nothing more and nothing less.
Therefore, the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution alone cannot restore or give back rights and privileges that belonged to Sabah and Sarawak.
Restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak to the original position must be done in parallel with the implementation of all terms that had been laid out in the MA63 as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Our Constitution exists to protect disadvantaged persons like minorities, the weak, the poor and the downtrodden.
Thus, the protection afforded to such disadvantaged persons ought to be better than that available during those days, otherwise, independence would have no real meaning to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
Let me conclude to say that it is imperative that further substantive and legal measures towards honoring the Malaysia Agreement 1963 be implemented as a matter of urgency, and that is the fervent hope of Sabahan and Sarawakian,so that we can be proud of our contribution to the nation, for the betterment of Malaysian and the country as a whole.
Awang Husaini Datuk Sahari
Member of Parliament, Putatan
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