SARAWAK Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg will meet Prime Minister Najib Razak to identify the issues of non-compliance of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

Abang Johari would not say when the meeting would be held but dismissed a committee, called the “technical committee on the devolution of authority” and co-chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri and Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, as powerless.

He said Nancy, who is Sarawakian, and Anifah, a Sabahan, were not in the position to discuss Sarawak’s grievances with the federal government .

The committee, set up by Putrajaya in 2014, was to provide recommendations and solutions for the consideration of the federal government in the negotiation to return what the two Borneo states claimed were rights eroded by the federal government over the five decades since Malaysia was formed.

The relevance of the committee was questioned on on November 9 when Sarawak  formed a “high level special task force” to take over the state’s negotiation with the federal government.

Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas, who tabled the motion for the setting up of the task force, stated it was “to resolve all outstanding issues related to the compliance and upholding of the Constitutional safeguards and special rights accorded to the state of Sarawak in accordance with the terms, intent and spirit of MA63”.

The motion was adopted unanimously by the state legislative assembly.

“I will discuss with the prime minister and will make an announcement soon,” Abang Johari told newsmen after presenting scrolls to Pusat Pembangunan Kemahiran Sarawak-Kolej Antarabangsa Teknologi Lanjutan Sarawak graduands at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching.

The chief minister said the powers of the task force “will be a bit higher” and it “will involve constitutional discussions” but did not go into details. – November 29, 2017.