THERE is no need to entertain Barisan Nasional deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s idea to come up with a new Malaysia Agreement, said Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.
He said the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), agreed upon by the country’s founding fathers, was fundamental to the establishment of the country.
“What Tok Mat (Mohamad) proposed should not even be brought up. What we want is the implementation of the conditions enshrined in the MA63 and the results of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) report,” he said.
Speaking to the media after the presentation of sacrificial meat in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidiladha in Gedong, around 90km from Kuching, he said that most of the conditions in MA63 have been eroded and negotiations are being conducted between the federal government, Sabah and Sarawak to restore the conditions.
“We don’t need to make a new agreement. If it’s a new agreement, it means you invalidate the old agreement. If you invalidate the old agreement, then the formation of Malaysia would be questioned,” he said.
Mohamad voiced a suggestion that Sabah BN propose a new Malaysia Agreement as a more concrete way forward to realising the rights and demands of the state in MA63 during his speech at the Sabah BN convention on July 2.
Special allocations to Sarawak
Abang Johari also said the current MA63 negotiations with the Federal Government also involved special allocations to Sarawak as enshrined in Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.
According to him, Sarawak wants the special allocation to be distributed according to a formula with the best percentage of revenue generated by the state to be returned to Sarawak.
He said negotiations for a Sarawak government representative in the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) as stipulated in the IGC report was also a good development based on the latest feedback he received.
“Now they (IRB) have requested a name to represent Sarawak. This means we know how much our revenue is. We can know what is the right amount that you (federal) can give to us,” he said.
He added that the Sarawak government did not intend to pressure the Federal Government and wanted the MA63 negotiations to produce a win-win situation for all sides.
“If the financial situation of the Federal (government) isn’t too good, we can’t pressure them as well. But based on the formula (suggested by Sarawak), it’s easy (to reach a consensus),” he added. – July 11, 2022
