Seeking new deal, Dr M pins S'wak rights woes on Najib and father

A day before Dr Mahathir Mohamad's arrival in Sarawak, the state's minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah told Sawakians that it was during the former prime minister's stewardship of 22 years that the state's rights were eroded.

However, Mahathir still received a rockstar welcome with around 10,000 people showing up at a ceramah in Kuching where Pakatan Harapan unveiled its "New Deal, New Hope" manifesto for Sarawak.

Addressing the crowd doing his almost hour-long speech, Mahathir took aim at the Petroleum Development Act 1974, which was seen as the point where East Malaysia gave up its petroleum rights to the federal government in exchange for a meagre five percent royalty payment.

"In 1974, when the Petroleum Development Act was passed, I was not the prime minister.

"Supposedly, it was said that I was responsible but that is not right. The records are in the hansard.

"Who was the prime minister at that time? It was Abdul Razak Hussein, not me," he told the crowd.

Mahathir claimed that this continued during the era of Abdul Razak's son, Najib, in the form of the Territorial Sea Act 2012.

"When was the law made? It was done in 2012. The prime minister in 2012 was Najib," he said.

The Territorial Sea Act 2012 clearly defined the breadth of the territorial sea of Malaysia as being 12 nautical miles from the baseline, in line with international law.

However, Sarawak and Sabah nationalists have taken issue with Section 3(3) of the law which they claimed limited the state's jurisdiction of territorial sea to three nautical miles while the rest falls under the federal government.

In contrast, Mahathir said it had kept things as it was during his tenure but acknowledged that the larger number of MPs from Peninsular Malaysia compared to Sabah and Sarawak meant that Parliament sometimes made decisions that upset East Malaysia.

"I was prime minister for 22 years, I didn't change the agreement with Sabah and Sarawak," he said.

However, Mahathir, who is now Pakatan Harapan and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chairperson, said the time was ripe for a review of the Malaysian Agreement - not to erode it, but to ensure more equitable rights.

"I am of the opinion this agreement needs to be renegotiated between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak to make it fairer," he said.

Despite Mahathir drumming up East Malaysia sentiment, the loudest cheers he received was when he poked fun at Najib, his wife and the 1MDB scandal.

"He (Najib) loves his wife but if you want to buy a ring for your wife, use your own money," said Mahathir to roars of laughter.

Sporting a "Make Malaysia Great Again" cap, Mahathir also mocked Najib's pledge to "strengthen the US economy" during his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Najib had said his comment to the US president was misconstrued.

During the ceramah, Harapan also unveiled the coalition's manifesto outline, which referred to Sarawak not as a "state", but a "territory".

The term was to address unhappiness that Sarawak was relegated to one of 13 states in the federation instead of an equal partner to Peninsular Malaysia.

The manifesto guaranteed Sarawak the right to territorial government, the right to petroleum and revenue justice, the right to equitable basic infrastructure and land development, the right to quality education and the right to equitable economic development and empowerment of youths, women, and minorities.

The manifesto outline was read out by Sarawak DAP chairperson Chong Chieng Jen, who is also Sarawak Harapan chief.

He added that Harapan will elaborate on the details of the manifesto in the near future, with at least four more ceramahs coming up.

During his speech, Chong accused BN Sarawak of surrendering the state's rights but now blamed the federal government.

"It has been Sarawak BN (in government) since the beginning until today.

"It was not the federal government that had snatched your rights but it was the Sarawak government that gave up your rights," he said.

-Mkini