CM says federal govt cannot alter Malaysia Agreement as it can only be changed with the consent of all the original signatories

The federal government cannot amend the Malaysia Agreement 1963 on its own because it is an international treaty signed by four parties — Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and the United Kingdom (Singapore, the other signatory, opted out of Malaysia in 1965) .

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg stressed that since MA63 has not been amended by all the signatory parties, therefore the terms and conditions has not been changed.

“Sarawakians have been too trusting. Now, Sarawakians are even more vigilant, because many of our native sons and daughters are now highly educated, can read and write, and are aware of what is going on.

“We do not want wool to be pulled over our eyes. We can see clearly now. We will do due diligence in all our agreements.

“We are exerting our rights under MA63 because we want to safeguard our economic interests for the present and future generations of Sarawakians,” he said in his winding up speech.

Abang Johari insisted that the demand was all about reclaiming what ‘God has given Sarawak for its fair share of the Earth’.

On royalty and compensation, he recalled the first into reclaiming state’s rights was fired three years ago when the state government sought to increase the petroleum royalty from five per cent to 20 per cent.

“I must admit that we have not succeeded in getting the 20 per cent per se. The crash in the oil price has created problems for government revenue as well as the viability of oil companies. Many oil companies have closed shop. At a time like this, trying to change the business model now is a very sensitive matter.

“But this does not mean that we are not pursuing our interests in petroleum,” he said.

He noted that an increase in the petroleum royalty would be an easy way to raise cash for Sarawak, but Sarawak has other ways to get its fair shares from the exploitation of its natural resources.

“We have learnt to be a bit more sophisticated in our approach to raising our stake in our petroleum resources and making it work for us,” he added.

Speaking later to the media after his winding-up speech, the chief minister said the state government had formed a new task-force headed by the state’s three deputy chief ministers (DCMs) to negotiate with Putrajaya for greater autonomy based on the terms of MA63.

“We are going to have three DCMs in the new taskforce. And to me, the Deputy Prime Minister will have to head (the task force) over the other side.

“The current one is headed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato Nancy Shukri and Datuk Seri Penglima Anifah Aman (for Sabah).”

“For that side, we need someone who is a senior minister, preferably be led by the DPM so that whatever the discussion they make, I can report to the PM,”

He stressed that the task force must focus on the contents and spirit of MA63.

“This is based on the rights that we have based on the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea and therein our rights on our continental shelf based on 12 nautical miles including the sea bed. On top of that we have our own ordinance called Mining Ordinance which is still operative.

At press time, none of the three DCMs, namely Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan could be reached for comments.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Jacob Achoi, Rintos Mail, Lim How Pim, Rachel Lau, Jeremy Veno & Saiful Bahari

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