THE Sarawak government was today given a mandate to form a “high-level special task force” to negotiate with Putrajaya to resolve all outstanding issues related to the Malaysia Agreement.

They include compelling the federal government to comply fully, uphold the constitutional safeguards and special rights accorded to Sarawak “in accordance to the terms, intent and spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963”.

Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, in tabling the ministerial motion on the Malaysia Agreement 1963, also sought – and given – the mandate “to take all necessary measures” under Article VIII of the Malaysia Agreement to ensure the complete implementation of recommendations of the inter-governmental committee (IGC) report intended to safeguard the special interest of Sarawak.

Article VIII of the MA63 provides that implementation is to be through executive, legislative and other actions by the federal and state governments of Sabah and Sarawak.

One thorny issue in the Borneo states’ grouses is the Continental Shelf Act of 1996 which reduced the two states sea boundaries 12 miles (19.3km) from the coastline to a mere three miles (4.83km).

Critics of the law have long argued that it gave the national petroleum company, Petronas, the right to plunder the oil and gas deposits in Sabah and Sarawak waters.

Uggah said the boundaries of Sarawak as at Malaysia Day had been “clearly established” under the Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council, 1954.

“These are the state’s boundaries and its territorial integrity are protected by Article 1(3) and 2(b) of the federal constitution.

“Britain determined the boundaries of the state to safeguard the state’s rights to all natural resources, including oil and natural gas in the continental shelf,” he said.

Uggah said the boundaries and territories of the state also cannot be altered without the consent of the state.

The deputy chief minister also said the British government, in an official statement that is now deposited in the British national archive, stated “the right of a littoral state to claim sovereignty over the seabed and sub-soil adjacent to its coast in order to control the exploitation of the natural resources therein has become established recently in international practice”.

Uggah said the Continental Shelf Act and the Petroleum Mining Act 1966, which were passed during the proclamation of emergency in 1969 and which enabled the federal government to exercise jurisdiction over the state’s continental shelf, ceased to have effect when the proclamation of emergency was annulled by both houses of parliament in December 2011.

He said the constitutional authority over the issuance of oil exploration or prospecting licence and mining leases, therefore, continue to be vested in the state government.

Securing relevant historical documents from the British archives in London by a team of legal experts led by Assistant Minister of Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, had put the state in a stronger negotiation position, Uggah said. – November 9, 2017.