“Yesterday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin came all the way to Sarawak to announce the formation of another committee to study our rights lost under the agreement.

“But, there is already a special Cabinet committee formed under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government which consisted of the chief ministers of Sabah and Sarawak and leaders from states, legal experts, academicians and activists.

“Out of the 21 outstanding issues, 17 have already been agreed upon and ready for implementation,” he said in a statement.

Yii said if the Perikatan Nasional government was sincere in returning Sarawak’s autonomous rights, which had been eroded over the years, it should reveal what the previous Cabinet committee on MA63 had achieved so far in Parliament.

“Why keep this under the Official Secrets Act? It is about our rights, we should be allowed to monitor and scrutinise what has been discussed and agreed upon. We should not allow the mistakes of the past where our rights were taken away without consultation with the people.”

Yii said the government had also decided not to form a proposed bipartisan parliamentary select committee to monitor the implementation of MA63, although this was agreed upon under PH.

“This shows they are not serious about returning our rights but are seeking to delay them and make this issue a sweet promise before the next election,” Yii said.

Muhyiddin said the Cabinet meeting on Sept 9 had agreed to form a special committee on MA63, which he will chair. The members will include the chief ministers of Sabah and Sarawak, while federal ministers and other members will be appointed according to their suitability, qualification and expertise.

This special committee would be assisted by existing committees set up at the ministerial and federal agency level, based on relevant issues, he said in his speech at the Malaysia Day 2020 celebration at the Sibu Indoor Stadium.