PUTRAJAYA, Sarawak and Sabah have sorted out seven disputed rights the two Borneo states have demanded back from the federal government, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a statement, the office said it had come to agreement with the East Malaysia states on duty claims in the export of timber and forest produce, gas distribution in Sarawak, the right of the states to enact their respective labour laws, control of the Health Department, administration of Sipadan and Ligitan islands by Sabah, and agriculture and forestry issues.

The statement said the agricultural and forestry issues were not discussed in July because Putrajaya had acceded that matters on agriculture and forestry were under the state list, the statement said.

The statement added that discussions would continue to resolve the remaining 14 issues – six which are common to Sabah and Sarawak, and eight specifically to Sabah – for which the committee has to announce a decision on August 31.

The statement said the decision was made during ongoing discussions in the special cabinet committee on the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

For Sabah export of timber and forest produce duty claims, all the parties agreed that the issue had been sorted out in a previous meeting where powers over forestry had been delegated to the Sabah Forestry Department on June 1, 2017.

For powers to distribute gas in Sarawak, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has given up its attempt to control the matter, deferring to the Distribution Gas Ordinance Sarawak (DGO) 2016.

However, Sabah, which has no such law, has agreed to carry out due diligence before making a decision.

Putrajaya, Sabah and Sarawak have also agreed to form a federal project collaboration enhancement working committee to implement federal projects in the two states.

The mechanism, as mandated in the federal constitution, the MA63 and the inter-governmental committee (IGC) report will be discussed and finalised by the committee.

The special cabinet committee – chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and comprising 23 members, including the chief ministers of the Borneo states – also, in principle, has no objection to the Sarawak and Sabah governments enacting their own subsidiary labour legislations on “labour conditions peculiar to the state” into their respective state labour ordinances.

The three parties reached agreement on the contentious issue of returning autonomy over health to the states, agreeing to set up a special committee that would meet on a regular basis to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile, Putrajaya has also agreed in principle to surrender the administration of Sipadan and Ligitan tourists islands to Sabah.

However, it stated “technical and security issues” were still under discussion and were “being refined”.

The cabinet committee, formed last year as part of the promises the new Pakatan Harapan government made in its election manifesto, first met on December 17 last year with the purpose of resolving 21 issues submitted by Sabah and Sarawak. – August 19, 2019.