SARAWAK Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg described the rescheduled tabling of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) bill as “a small matter”.

“Not a problem,” he told reporters today.

The MA63 bill was supposed to have been tabled for its first reading by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar yesterday.

The chief minister said he was told by Wan Junaidi there were several queries on the proposed amendments to the definition of federation, under Article 160 (2) of the federal constitution.

“They just want to clarify certain points. That’s all there is to it.

“It’s a matter of understanding.”

Earlier, Wan Junaidi had said several cabinet members raised questions on the definition, which needed clarification from Attorney-General Idrus Harun.

However, political analyst James Chin said the matter is serious, with the “Malay political establishment” on the peninsula very much against the proposed amendment to Article 160 (2).

In a Clubhouse talk programme hosted by journalist Norman Goh, the University of Tasmania Asian political expert said if push comes to shove over the bill, the Malay establishment would be quite happy to concede by only amending the Article 1 (2) of the constitution.

He said an amendment to this article has no real impact on the rest of the constitution.

“What they do not want is another part of the constitution, which refers to the MA63 as the founding basis of the Malaysia federation even though that is a fact.

“They just don’t want to refer to it. They have a problem with referring to Malaysia Day (or that) the whole federation must be based on the MA63.

“If anything were to happen in the future, people (in Malaya) will use that subsection to mount a court challenge,” the political analyst said.

Chin said the departure of Singapore in 1965 from Malaysia had left a lot of unhappiness in the Malay political establishment and they are afraid that giving concessions to Sarawak and Sabah could lead to something like what happened with Singapore.

“Even today when you speak to people who lived through that period, the overwhelming majority in the Malay political establishment said Tunku Abdul Rahman made a big mistake by allowing Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore to break away,” he said referring to the decision of Malaysia’s first prime minister.

He said Malay politicians are even more angry when people make comparisons between Malaysia and Singapore.

“When Singapore left, they left with nothing,” he said alluding to the absence of natural resources on the island.

“They even had to rely on Malaysia for their drinking water. Now Singapore is a much more successful state.”

Chin said the comparison annoys them.

“These are some of the things that this establishment can’t stomach. They are worried that if they give too much recognition to MA63, in the long run it may lead to the big ‘S’ word: the secessionist movement.” – October 27, 2021.