MA63: Lina Soo in full agreement with CM

KUCHING: “I agree with the statement by the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Tun Openg on last Monday whereby the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) terms and conditions are intact,” said the President of State Reform Party Sarawak (STAR), Lina Soo at an interview yesterday. She added that nobody, including the parliament, could change a single word on the agreement or the agreement as a whole.

The STAR President said that people needed to understand the basic things about MA63 which formed Malaysia today.

“It is an international treaty, it was signed between five nations (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah today), Sarawak and Singapore). In 1970, UK (the one who wrote the agreement and signed in London) lodged this to the United Nations as an international treaty.

“This is the document that formed Malaysia, without this treaty, Malaysia will never have been formed. Only with this treaty, Malaysia was formed (Federation of Malaysia), then we have the Per s ekutuan Per lembagaan (Const i tut ional Federat ion) , Parliament and our legal system. “So, this is the most important thing, and people are inferior to it.

Many have asked which is the most supreme, the Malaysia Agreement, Parliament, or the Constitution?” she explained. She added that if there were any changes or amendments regarding the agreement, only these five nations will be able to decide at a roundtable.

Soo stressed that the Parliament has no power to make any changes on this agreement and what needs to be done is to fulfil the agreement which was agreed upon in 1963. When asked about the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, she responded that Pandikar’s thought on the MA63 was wrong. “Pandikar stated that this agreement is not binding, but according to the international law, this is an internatinonal treaty, therefore, he is wrong.

“Another thing he stated was that the states of Sabah and Sarawak are equal with Malaya. As you can see, who signed this treaty? It was the federation of Malaya, therefore, Sarawak signed the treaty with Malaya as one political entity, and Sarawak did not sign the treaty with Johor, Terengganu, Pahang and other Peninsular states.

Therefore, Sarawak is one political entity and Malaya as a whole is one political entity, and Pandikar is wrong again,” Soo elaborated.

“I had fixed December 23 for the the debate to take place at Grand Continental Hotel, Kuching at 2.00PM. The letter has been sent on December 4. “As a parliament speaker, he cannot throw challenges to Members of Parliament (MP), because the speaker is to preside over parliament, not to take part.

He needs to resign as a speaker if he wants to challenge and he has breached the parliamentary rule. “If he is a gentleman, ‘A man of his words’, he should come and debate, and there will be a table and chair waiting for him,” she disclosed.