PARTI Bersatu Sabah president Maximus Ongkili has joined the chorus of the country’s Borneo leaders in slamming Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan’s proposal for a new Malaysia Agreement. 

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) described Mohamad as being “short-sighted and misguided”. 

Ongkili said scrapping the MA63 means disbanding Malaysia. 

“No MA63 means no Malaysia,” he said in a statement. 

“To abandon MA63 is to abandon the Federation of Malaysia. The MA63 is a sacred and foundation document of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

“No one should change the fundamental agreement that led to the formation of Malaysia,” he said. 

Ongkili reminded Mohamad and those who agree with him, that the constitutional amendment unanimously passed by Parliament in December last year had made the MA63 part of the Federal Constitution.

“The proposal for a new Malaysia Agreement, as suggested by Mohamad, and supported by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, is simply short-sighted, misguided and would not strengthen Malaysia,” said Ongkili. 

He said it is unthinkable for any loyal Malaysian to abandon the MA63 in place of a new agreement, whose contents have not even been considered.

He also asked if the new agreement would strengthen the MA63, or abandon it. 

“Based on the limited exposition by proposers of the new agreement, the misguided thinking is to desert the MA63 in place of a new one,” Ongkili said. 

“It is tantamount to breaking the bonds that bind and unite the Malaya Federation, North Borneo, and Sarawak in 1963.”

Ongkili said tearing up the MA63 would therefore return Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah “to our original status and restarting a new search for our respective state identity”. 

“Is that what Malaysians want? Be careful in what we expound in our search for our true nation building. 

“Be cautious when uttering thoughtless suggestions, which will weaken what our forefathers and all of us have achieved in nation building. 

“We must build for strength, peace, and solidarity. We must avoid playing with semantics and politics,” Ongkili said. – July 6, 2022.