KUCHING: The principle of equal partnership between Sarawak, Sabah and Malaya is no longer a matter of political interpretation or federal discretion, but is firmly entrenched in the Federal Constitution.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew said the party fully supports the remarks made by Minister of Works and Kapit Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi during an interview on The Breakfast Grille on BFM 89.9, stressing that constitutional amendments passed in 2021 have decisively clarified Sarawak’s status within the Federation.
“With the passage of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2021, Parliament formally recognised the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report, and a redefined constitutional meaning of ‘Malaysia’, acknowledging Sarawak and Sabah as founding partners — not subordinate states,” he said in a statement today.
Ting said the amendment ended decades of ambiguity surrounding Sarawak’s constitutional position and made it legally untenable to treat MA63 as merely symbolic or historical.
“Any attempt to downplay MA63 as non-binding history rather than constitutional substance is now legally and constitutionally dishonest,” he said.
Ting also took issue with assertions that the ownership, management and regulation of oil and gas resources are determined solely by the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA 1974), describing such claims as inconsistent with constitutional hierarchy.
“A federal law enacted in 1974 cannot supersede rights and safeguards that pre-exist it under MA63, which are now expressly recognised by the Federal Constitution,” he said, adding that elevating ordinary legislation above the Federation’s founding agreement amounts to a reversal of constitutional order.
Ting said Sarawak’s leaders had foreseen this risk even before the formation of Malaysia, citing warnings by the late Temenggong Oyong Lawai Jau and the late Temenggong Tun Jugah Barieng on the dangers of unequal benefit and resource exploitation if vigilance was not maintained.
“These were not folklore or rhetoric. They were clear warnings about the consequences of surrendering control while being promised partnership,” he said.
Ting pointed out that constitutional recognition without meaningful implementation would render the 2021 amendment ineffective.
He stressed that Sarawak is not seeking special treatment, but asserting rights that were never surrendered at the formation of Malaysia.
“If MA63 is recognised in principle but ignored in practice, then equal partnership becomes performative. If Sarawak’s territorial waters and natural resources are acknowledged in theory but controlled unilaterally, then the federation is operating in constitutional bad faith.
“Equal partnership demands consequences — federal laws must be interpreted in harmony with MA63, control over natural resources cannot be centralised by default, and constitutional recognition must result in real devolution of authority, not ceremonial acknowledgement,” he said.
Ting added that Malaysia was formed through agreement, not absorption, and that the constitutional bargain of 1963, now reaffirmed, must be honoured fully and faithfully.
