KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing questions the sincerity of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in wanting to give equal rights to Sarawak and Sabah.
Masing said if there is sincerity in the amendment of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), PH should have expressed it very explicitly by putting MA63 into the Federal Constitution.
“In doing so, MA63 will have the backing of it. As it stands, MA63 is not included in the Federal Constitution,” he said.
He added that state legal counsel Datuk Seri JC Fong had made it very clear that PH is not sincere in wanting to give equal status to Sarawak and Sabah.
“However, in order to review Article 1 (2), Article 160 also needs to be amended, which PH government didn’t do.
“If Mahathir is genuine in giving Sarawak and Sabah equal status, Article 1 (2) and Article 160, among others, must be amended together,” he said.
As an example, Masing said, “Article 121 of the Federal Constitution states very clearly that the High Courts of Malaya and Borneo are on the same status.”
“It’s written into the Federal Constitution. Why can’t the PH government state clearly in the Federal Constitution that Sarawak and Sabah are on the same status with Malaya?”
“He (Mahathir) only stated that the spirit of MA63 will be kept, but it is not good enough. We have learnt our lesson with this old man’s promises.
“Putrajaya, especially Mahathir, cannot be trusted because he had made so many U-turns on Sarawak, and broke so many promises since his time as Prime Minister,” he said.
He explained this was why Santubong MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar wanted a select committee to discuss details on the amendment, before tabling it to Parliament.
“The holistic approach to the tabling of the Bill as suggested is the only way forward to stop Malaya from short changing Sarawak and Sabah again.
“What the PH government did was just a political drama just to show people they have fulfilled their election promises. It was not a genuine legal move.
“GPS knows what PH is doing, and Mahathir is very much aware of his own tricks. Sarawak will not be tricked for the second time, so our MPs abstained,” he added.
