MA63: Talk, talk and talk, with no results!

Is Sarawak rich or poor? My chief minister, Abang Johari Openg, has an answer to that.

“People say we are the third richest after Selangor and Wilayah. Yet inwardly, we are poor. This is something of a paradox. If you are rich, you are rich. If you are poor, you are poor. We have been described as a rich state, yet we are poor.

“Why? Because all the wealth goes to Putrajaya. The revenue that we get goes to Putrajaya,” he said at a dialogue session with the business community in Sibu on March 6.

I’m not sure if I have heard Abang Jo making such a direct claim and in such an affront manner before. Perhaps, he was thinking that he has been holding back long enough and it was time to say it out loud.

Or perhaps, the chief minister was under a lot of pressure from Sarawakians to declare his stand and make it known to Putrajaya.

A day earlier, the chief minister attended the Special Committee to Review the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya.

After the meeting, Mahathir revealed that “there is little disagreement between the federal government and Sabah and Sarawak governments on the matter”.

He said several working papers tabled at the meeting would be referred to the technical committee for an in-depth study before they are discussed at the next meeting.

There it goes again - the same old MA63 tales. Meetings after meetings. Talk and more talk without tangible results. How many years have they been meeting and discussing? How many more years will they continue to do so? Patience is running thin among Sarawakians, and Sabahans as well.

After the prime minister’s statement, Sarawakians started to question Abang Jo’s stand on the MA63 negotiation, creating a hue-and-cry on social media. They expected a rebuttal from the chief minister to Mahathir’s perceived nonchalant stance on the agreement that led to the formation of Malaysia 56 years ago.

Abang Johari Openg

It is true that many Sarawakians feel that settling the issues surrounding MA63 is of very low priority to the prime minister. Some are saying he is hardly interested at all for he has never set a time frame to resolve the issue.

Even Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Dr James Jemut Masing was not amused, charging that renegotiation on MA63 was a delaying tactic by the federal government to frustrate Sarawakians and Sabahans, thus allowing Putrajaya “to continue sucking the wealth of the two Borneo territories”.

Did Abang Jo up the ante in his Sibu speech by taking a cue from Masing? Now, the chief minister and his deputy have implied that Putrajaya is a “sucker” of Sarawak’s wealth. Do we hear a rebuttal?

Vocal Sarawak activist Peter John Jaban also accused Mahathir of “beating around the bush”, saying he was convinced the prime minister would not incorporate anything from the 56-year-old agreement into the Federal Constitution.

Jaban also posed a very pertinent question as to why no details have been revealed on what had been discussed so far.

Yes, why is everything under wraps? This is a matter of grave importance to the people of Sabah and Sarawak for it is their destiny that is at stake.

Many have already blamed their forefathers for agreeing to be parties in the formation of Malaysia. They would certainly have chosen a different path today.

I believe that the majority of Sarawakians and Sabahans would have stood behind Dr Jeffrey Kitingan’s statement declaring that the federal government had two options — implement MA63 or dissolve it.

“What is there to negotiate? MA63 was concluded and signed in 1963. After more than half a century, it has remained unimplemented and not complied with,” the Keningau MP told reporters in Kota Kinabalu.

Credit is due to Jeffrey for he has been fighting for MA63 to be honoured by the federal government for as long as I can remember. It was also Jeffrey, a Sabahan, who spoke up for Sarawak when no Sarawakian took up the issue seriously. That is, until the late Adenan Satem became Sarawak’s chief minister in 2014.

Adenan is on record as the first Sarawakian leader who told Putrajaya in no uncertain terms that the eroded rights of Sarawak under MA63 must be reinstated. No other government leader before Adenan has ever broached the subject.

He started negotiations with former prime minister Najib Razak, and now, Abang Johari is negotiating with Mahathir. I wonder whether there will be Round 3 – a third CM negotiating with a third PM.

Jeffrey is right. What else is there to negotiate? MA63 is clear. Just implement the terms in the agreement.

If Putrajaya finds it too complicated, then why not take the easy way out?

Just tell Sarawak and Sabah to leave, just as Tunku Abdul Rahman told Singapore in 1965.

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FRANCIS PAUL SIAH heads the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) and can be reached at sirsiah@gmail.com. - Mkini