KUCHING: The Sarawak Patriot Association (SPA) welcomes the announcement by the Prime Minister YAB Tun Dr Mahathir during his Malaysia Day address in Kota Kinabalu on September 16, 2018 that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Federal Government will be restoring Sarawak and Sabah as equal partners with Malaya in the Federation of Malaysia, said a press release from SPA Chairman Datuk Lau Pang Heng. yesterday.
Members of SPA rejoice on hearing this long-awaited news. In this regard, SPA would like to express gratitude and thank the Prime Minister of Malaysia YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir for fulfilling his promise.
This is a significant step forward for the New Malaysia as the restoration of Sarawak and Sabah rights was also stated in the PH GE14 manifesto under Promise 40 which is to implement the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
In order to move forward, SPA opines that the PH Federal Government will need to table a bill to the Federal Parliament for an amendment of the Federal Constitution. It is the prayer of SPA that the PH Federal Government during the upcoming amendment of the Federal Constitution shall include the interpretation of September 16 1963 as the day, our nation Malaysia was formed. September 16, 1963 was the date when Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya and Singapore partnered the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. In accordance with SPA’s understanding, the Federation of Malaysia is a federation of nations rather than a federation of nation-states. When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, their parliament enacted the Singapore Separation Act 1965.
SPA is hopeful that all the Members of Parliament will put their political differences aside and should support this bill to restore the rights of Sarawak and Sabah as equal partners in Malaysia bill as this is essential for nation building.
SPA would also like to add that the word Peninsular Malaysia has never been stated in the MA63 and the Inter Government Committee report 1962. MA63 stated that the Federation of Malaysia comprises Malaya including all the states in Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. Thus SPA is unsure if it is legally correct to mention that Federation of Malaysia comprises the Peninsula, Sarawak and Sabah.
SPA also urges the PH Government to fulfil their Promise 47 which is for the decentralisation of power to Sabah and Sarawak; that 50% of the revenue collected in Sabah and Sarawak will be channelled back for development needs.
Members of SPA took every promise made by PH Federal Government in their “BUKU HARAPAN”- Rebuilding our nation fulfilling our hopes seriously and SPA was disappointed to hear the report that some of its manifesto promises were made without expecting that they would actually win GE14. However, now is not the time to dwell on the past but rather we must work together for the future we believe in, the press statement concluded.
