The following are excerpts of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s speech at the national-level Malaysia Day celebration held at Stadium Perpaduan Petrajaya on Monday.
On behalf of the people behalf of the people of Sarawak, I wish to welcome all the guests who visited Kuching in conjunction with the 56th Malaysia Day celebration this year.
I thank the federal government for choosing Sarawak as the host this year. We are very pleased to welcome all the guests and hope that this event will showcase the beauty of racial unity and harmony in Sarawak despite its diverse cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs.
We consider Kuching a cultural city because as a capital city, Kuching is the focus of the multi-cultural Sarawakians who have always respected each other. Also it has been awarded the City of Unity.
Decolonalisation east of Suez
Ladies and gentlemen,
The catastrophic defeat of the British Empire in Europe and Asia between 1940 and 1942 in the Second World War destroyed Britain’s financial and economic prowess, the foundation of the imperial system.
Without its financial strength, it was becoming hard for Britain to exert control over its colonies against the growing tide of nationalist movement East of Suez.
India achieved independence in 1947, Burma or Myanmar 1948, Pakistan 1947, and Federation of Malaya 1957.
Being independent much earlier, Malaya was ahead in the development of its economy and infrastructure. In 1963, Sarawak’s founding leaders upon invitation by Tunku Abdul Rahman decided to merge with the other entities; Malaya, Singapore and North Borneo to follow in the footsteps of the more developed Malaya with a fervent hope that Sarawak can be developed within the context of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 or MA63.
The merger of these entities came at a time when the Cold War started to intensify between the communist and the western bloc.
The coming together of these four territories also contributed to the stability of the region that was affected by ideological and expansionist powers.
The concept of federalism in Malaysia
On this day in 1963, a new country called Malaysia was born. This federation was born pursuant to an agreement signed on July 9, 1963 which we called the Malaysia Agreement, entered into between the governments of the United Kingdom and the Federation of Malaya and the representatives of the governments and peoples of Singapore, North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak, which at the time were still not independent states but colonies of Britain.
MA63 states the components of the new Federation of Malaysia, namely:
- the states of the Federation of Malaya,
- Singapore, and
- Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.
MA63 which calls for amendments to the Malayan Constitution before its adoption as the Constitution of Malaysia, provides for a unique federal system of government whereby additional legislative, executive powers and more sources of revenues were assigned to the states of Sabah and Sarawak to safeguard their special interests in the federation of which they were partners in the formation.
The federalism which the Malaysian Constitution embraced is therefore unique and tailored-made to ensure the continued unity and harmony of the federation and her future progress and development.
The concept and practice of federalism differs from nation to nation. However, it is said that some common elements do exist in all federal systems. In my view, the most important of these common elements are:
- A written constitution, which outlines power sharing terms amongst the federal and state governments, and
- Non-centralisation, which provides a system for enforcement of constitutional terms through diffusion of power.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In any political system, where there are two or more legislative powers that have the power to make laws, the boundaries of the law to make laws should be clear.
Even with the existence of clear boundaries, disagreements can still occur as these powers are influenced by the current needs, aspirations and agenda of the development of the federal or state governments.
The Constitution of Malaysia for instance, provides for this delineation of powers by instituting the federal, state and concurrent lists.
Despite these, disagreements between the various governments do arise from time to time on the extent, scope and interpretation of the legislative and executive authorities provided in the constitution and whether any law passed had exceeded the constitutional powers provided either to parliament or the state assembly.
In this regard, I and Sarawak would like to extend our gratitude to the Prime Minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) for establishing a steering committee to deal with this issue.
The current negotiation in relation to implementation of the Malaysia Agreement, chaired by Tun amplifies this. We are all confident and looking forward to solutions which will see no losers, and more importantly, no derogation of constitutional rights, special safeguards and status accorded to the states of Sabah and Sarawak as agreed by the nation’s founding fathers and embedded 56 years ago in the Federal Constitution.
I and other members of the state government are fully convinced that the matters being discussed will find a solution through the MA63 steering committee.
Today, Malaysia has been around for 56 years. I on behalf of the people of Sarawak want to emphasise that Sarawak will always be in Malaysia and I believe that if there is a problem it can be solved in the family spirit, as the old Malay saying “sedangkan lidah lagi tergigit“.
Thanks again to Tun Mahathir, (Deputy Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah and the entire federal, and Sabah government for their willingness to join Sarawakians in celebrating Malaysia’s birth day in Kuching today.
Although the Sarawak government and the federal government are on different political platforms, I believe this will not prevent us from working together for the benefit of the people and the nation.
In this regard, I welcome the shared prosperity approach announced by the Prime Minister recently.
Once again, I would like to thank Tuan Yang Terutama Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and his wife Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Raghad Kurdi Taib who are here to celebrate Malaysia Day with us.
Thank you.
