DEPUTY Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi declared that Sabah and Sarawak have been accorded the status of regions and are no longer regarded as states within Malaysia.
“The relocation of the Indonesian capital to East Kalimantan made the Sabah and Sarawak regions more strategic, to be developed as new growth areas,” Bernama reported the Rural and Regional Development Minister as saying.
According to Zahid, in his policy speech at the 2022 UMNO General Assembly which was attended by 2,820 delegates, the unity government today has a considerable legal and moral obligation towards Sabah and Sarawak.
“The Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) needs to be implemented immediately.
“Even though some basic things have already been implemented, there are still several things that form the basis of MA63 that need to be translated for implementation,” urged the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.
Moreover, Zahid is of the opinion that the overflow of development in Kalimantan needs to be worked on immediately so that Sabah and Sarawak will develop more rapidly.
“Since 1963, Sabah and Sarawak have contributed a lot to the country’s economic development, and now is the best time for us to develop both Sabah and Sarawak, in line with the development in the entire Borneo archipelago, including Kalimantan, Indonesia.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on Jan 4 that today’s leaders need to be persistent in defending Malaysia’s spirit in MA63 while doing their level best to honour the agreement, which reflects the wisdom of the previous leadership.
Anwar further added that the amount of allocation for special grants to Sabah and Sarawak, according to Article 112D of the Federal Constitution should be reviewed every five years so that the amount is more reasonable.
Furthermore, he also agreed that the implementation of any project with a cost of less than RM50 mil, in Sabah and Sarawak should be decided almost entirely by the state governments, subject to compliance with financial regulations. — Jan 13, 2023
