Abg Johari & Sarawak Independence Day 2021

 Abg Johari & Sarawak Independence Day 2021

Sarawak thanks the federal government for understanding the state’s special rights under the Constitution and its need to reclaim its eroded and lost rights’…quote CM Abang Johari

https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/sarawak-thanks-putrajaya-for-understanding-states-rights/

It would have been a real meaningful message if he said Sarawak is grateful that the federal government has decided and has started the process of returning all of Sarawak’s lost rights.

Interestingly Abang Johari alluded to the fact that the MA63 is the foundational document upon which Sarawak’s rights vis-a-vis the federal government were created. And, it was provisions in the federal constitution and other Acts of parliament that usurped Sarawak’s rights.

To cut this straight to the bone, I will say just this : Sarawak has nothing to be thankful to the federal government as far as her rights are concerned.

How did Sarawak loses her rights in the first place? The short answer to that is through the August 1976 amendment to the federal constitution.

When Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963 (before August 1976) the federal constitution read: “the States of the Federation shall be – (a) the States of Malaya, namely, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Trengganu; and (b) the Borneo States, namely, Sabah and Sarawak; and (c) the State of Singapore.”

In short, there were three (3) territorial entities involved - Malaya, the Borneo states and Singapore.

After August 1976, Article 1(2) says: “The States of the Federation shall be Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Penang, Perak, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor and Terengganu.”

The Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak were reduced in status to a mere state in the federation. Why is this significant?

To put it simply, before August 1976, Sarawak was a ‘sovereign state within a federation’ a little like the UK within the EU. Because the UK was a sovereign state, it  was able to do a Brexit when it realized that the EU was not in their best interest. By being a mere state within the federation, Sarawak’s position was reduced to a cow being led by its nose.

That was and still is the reason why the restitution for losses and restoration of rights over Sarawak’s natural resources, chief among which is the oil and gas, is not even a work in progress.

How did the August 1976 amendment to the federal constitution happened? It was because of the betrayal of Sarawak’s MPs from the Barisan Nasional (BN) government block  in parliament. They voted for it.

When the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the status of the Borneo States became a sexy thing in Malaysian politics, particularly in Sarawak and Sabah after the GE12 in 2008, the then Pakatan Rakyat coalition made it their clarion call in these two Borneo states. The awareness of the betrayal by BN MPs from Sarawak was raised to much higher levels and the Sarawak BN government was left with no choice but to hijack the issue and attempted to champion it. Unfortunately for them the rot has set in to a degree which they cannot cover up with cosmetic actions.

The litmus test came in 2019 when the Pakatan Harapan proposed an amendment to the federal constitution. That amendment would have set in motion the process of restoring Sarawak’s lost rights but it failed. It failed because Sarawak’s MPs from GPS decided to perpetuate the tradition of betraying Sarawak - they abstained from voting in parliament.

Wikipedia recorded this betrayal in these words ‘ On 4 April 2019, a bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Malaysia was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat of the Parliament of Malaysia. The bill proposed to amend Article 1(2) so as to restore the status of the two East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak according to the original content of Malaysia Agreement that was signed in 1963.

Despite six hours of debate in the Parliament during the second reading of the bill on 9 April, only 138 MPs supported the bill, 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority of the chamber, 148 votes, required for amendments to the Constitution. The remaining 59 (non-absent) votes were abstentions, all of which are from opposition parties’

So what exactly has the GPS government of Sarawak achieved in the efforts to get the Malaya-led federal government to restore Sarawak’s lost rights and get restitution for the losses suffered since Sept 1963? Nothing at all. Can 2 onshore natural gas concessions, yet to be proven to contain viable reserves of untapped natural gas, compare to a proven oil field (E11) over which the production sharing contract (PSC) has recently expired and then given to Petronas Carigali to continue to exploit? Can the distribution rights to LNG compare to that?

In the final analysis, it boils down to this : For as long as you choose to be an ulun Malaya, you will remain as a cow that is led by its nose. You can never be the rampaging bull determine to mark out its territory and all that is his.

Now we come to the biggest question here? Was there really something to celebrate on Sarawak’s Independence Day yesterday? Your answer will tell you which way your votes will go in the coming pilihan raya negeri.