Sabah and Sarawak are both partners and signatories of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). While both states should cooperate and work together to get back state rights, they are on different wavelengths in their approach to achieve “equal partnership” status with the central government.
Due to the lack of cooperation, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing has criticised Sabah leaders for their wait and see attitude. He said Sabah must learn to fight without fear or favour.
Sarawak has done the right thing by taking Petronas to court over the state sales tax on petroleum and won its case handsomely. It is now RM3 billion richer. Meanwhile, Sabah has imposed the same tax from April this year and is expected to receive the money from Petronas in 2021.
Sabah is always slow out of the gate preferring to be “polite” and subservient to the federal government. Netizens have chastised Sabah’s “lembik” style of leadership which has not got us anywhere. From Umno days to the present times, our leaders have been afraid to make demands unlike Sarawak.
Sabahans are brave enough to topple their own state government but not when dealing with the federal government. They are so weak that they unashamedly let in a PAS representative into the state assembly without winning a seat at the behest of the federal leadership.
Sarawak has been stating their demands since former chief minister Adenan Satem’s time, and the current Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg has carried the momentum of his legacy. Their aggressiveness in getting things done, independent-minded persistence and hard work has paid off.
Sabah can do the same if only they could put the state first before self-interest.
When we could have emulated Sarawak and enacted a state sales tax law simultaneously, or even taken up a class action suit against Petronas, Sabah preferred to wait and see. The petroleum sales tax for Sabah has now turned into a blame game which Sabah leaders are very good at.
They forgot that whoever is in control of the government has been elected to fight for Sabah rights; blaming past leaders for their inaction does not bring us forward. The buck stopped after Warisan lost power and it is now for GPS Sabah and allies to take up the slack. Voters are not interested in who is to blame, it’s already academic.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Jeffrey Kitingan said the government is expected to collect RM1.25 billion in April from Petronas and other oil companies. Sabahans are praying for it to come true and that it’s not just empty promises like how Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Minister Maximus Ongkili promised to solve the MA63 issue within six months after Perikatan Nasional came into power in March.
If the state sales tax does come through, Sabah should set up a sovereign fund like the Government Pension Fund Global of Norway (also known as the oil fund) established in 1990 to invest surplus oil revenues for its citizens.
This is to prevent corrupt Sabah politicians from dipping their hands into the oil money and end up with scandals like 1MDB, Felda, Tabung Haji and others. Oil is not going to last forever and there should be a committee established to monitor prudent spending of the oil money that will maximise returns for the future generations of Sabahans.
Sarawak has now gone ahead pushing for their state rights under MA63 where five demands relating to Sarawak’s rights have been fulfilled. This includes the demand to review the special grant for the state under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution. Putrajaya had also agreed to hand over the regulation of gas distribution in accordance with the state’s Distribution of Gas Ordinance 2016.
Sharifah Hasidah, the assistant state minister for law, state-federal relations and project monitoring, claimed that the GPS government had managed to resolve five of the 13 issues and demands with the federal government and would continue to negotiate the remaining eight issues with the Special Cabinet Committee on MA63.
The issues relate to federal financial obligations under the joint list, legal authority on tourism, the state’s authority over health issues, implementation of federal works, Article 112 of the Federal Constitution regarding establishment of departments and salaries, stamp duty related to the Sarawak land ordinance, mineral gas, and the Territorial Sea Act.
She said the GPS government had also raised several non-negotiable matters relating to the MA63, including the state’s immigration autonomy, the right to enforce state ordinances in accordance with the Federal Constitution, protection of the state’s borders and sovereignty over the sea, underground and resources within the state.
From Sharifah’s statement, it appears that Sarawak has gone further ahead with their claims on MA63 rights, leaving Sabah far behind.
Abang Johari is even braver to say that Umno will not be allowed to enter Sarawak, describing the GPS ally under the new federal government as “extreme”. He said Umno parliamentarians would harp on religious issues which he felt was a personal matter between a person and God.
“They don’t know our culture. In Sarawak, we co-exist. We will not allow them (Umno) to come into Sarawak, they are extreme. We can take care of ourselves. When we are united, we protect ourselves. And I am confident that we can achieve a developed state by 2030,” he said.
How many Sabah leaders are brave enough to say the same? Sabah leaders since 1963 have rarely united in the fight for their rights, and it makes you wonder why Sarawak can do it and not Sabah. If united, with the combined Sabah and Sarawak 56 parliamentary seats, the two states can be kingmakers and not dance to the tune of Putrajaya. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect that of MMKtT.
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