Supreme Council member Martin Tommy said MA63 should not be used as a “political weapon” to stoke the people’s anger against the new government.
“It is useless for us to ponder over the past. Instead, we should move forward and stay united in resolving the issues on MA63,” he said today.
Martin, who is the political secretary to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong, was asked to comment on Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) acting Youth chief Christopher Mandut’s recent remarks on the present status of MA63.
Mandut had said he was perplexed to read reports of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his government vowing to “revive” MA63 and implement the matters contained in the agreement.
Mandut added that MA63 had never been “dead” as it was a “living agreement” which safeguards the rights of the Bornean states and their people.
Martin said he believed the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government of which PBS was a part had tried its best to solve the issue, but the people were still unhappy.
“Now it is time for the new government to tackle the issue. Give us a chance,” he said.
He also noted Mahathir’s assurance that Sabah and Sarawak would receive the same benefits as the other states in the peninsular.
Mahathir, during the question and answer session at the Congress on the Future of Bumiputeras and the Nation 2018 on Sept 1, had also said that MA63 would be revived so that the pledges outlined in the agreement could be honoured.
“God willing, we will try,” he said.
Martin said if BN, which had ruled the country for more than six decades, had been serious about solving the issue, it could have done so a long time ago.
“Although the PH government has only been in power for five months, it has a strategy for tackling this tricky and sensitive issue,” he said, adding that the opposition should not count their chickens before they hatch.
He said reviving MA63 did not mean that it had been “dead”, only that it had been ignored for far too long.
“Mahathir has said rightly that Sabah, Sarawak and the Federated Malay States were by themselves territories before and after the formation of Malaysia.
“As such, Mahathir said the PH government should focus on the implementation of the terms and matters contained in MA63,” he said.
In order for this to be done, he added, the government had agreed to establish a special Cabinet committee on MA63 to identify the matters in need of implementation which had been snubbed by the previous government.
“The special Cabinet committee has been tasked, among others, with recommending the amendment of Article 1 (2) of the Federal Constitution by reintroducing the original provision which provides as follows:
“The states of the federation shall be the states of Malaya, namely Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Penang, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu, whereas the Borneo states shall be Sabah and Sarawak.”
With this reintroduction, he said, Sabah and Sarawak could be treated as equal statutory partners with Malaya.
“Once Article 1 (2) is amended, everything will follow in accordance with our rights as enshrined in MA63,” he said.