Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking said such a move would allow a “Borneo Bloc” initiative in the pursuit to enforce Article 8 of the agreement and ensure a prosperous Sabah.
“Imagine if the state enforces the 40% special entitlement (which should not be confused with the annual budget given by the federal government to Sabah), calculated from 1963 to date, with a likely quantum amounting to more or less RM1 trillion.”
He said there was also a possibility of Sabah being in total control of its continental shelf, which may invalidate Petronas’ petroleum-sourcing activities in the state, and thereby pave the way for a state-owned oil company to be in charge of its petroleum reserves.
“Would this not make Sabah as rich as Brunei or richer?” he said in a statement today.
Leiking said a full debate on the matter should be allowed to take place in the Sabah assembly for the government of the day to reveal pertinent information to all.
“As far as I know, these are the things which Warisan will immediately do upon taking over the state government and we trust the electorate as well expects us to do the same.”
Leiking was commenting on Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg’s announcement on the formation of the legal team on June 30.
Johari did not disclose when the team would leave for London or how long the lawyers would be there for.
Johari said the team would be led by Assistant Sarawak Law, Federal-State Relations and Project Monitoring Minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
Leiking claimed that Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman had until now not allowed debate on MA63 to take place in the assembly and had not encouraged BN backbenchers to debate matters alleged to be in breach of the agreement.
He said this contrasted with the situation in Sarawak where assemblymen were free to debate on issues relating to the state’s relationship with the federal government.
He said these included the motion for review of Sarawak’s petroleum royalty, which was tabled as a joint effort by Sarawak BN and Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian, supported by the late Adenan Satem when he was chief minister.
Leiking said while Sarawak was pushing hard for the actual implementation of MA63, the best that Sabah’s leaders were doing was to establish the “Sabah Rights Committee”.
He said the committee was similar to the one that came out with the non-binding 20-point agreement drawn up by North Borneo in 1962, in proposing terms for its incorporation into the new federation as the state of Sabah.
He said it was also like the other committees supposedly formed to tackle the scourge of illegal immigrants obtaining Malaysian identity cards.