PAKATAN Harapan’s (PH) plan to renegotiate a new deal for Sabah and Sarawak if it comes to power comes close to denying the states their special rights and appears unconstitutional, says Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Raymond Tan.

He said Sabahans were not interested in renegotiating deals, and were more resolute about having the state’s special rights restored and honoured.

“Nobody in his right mind would be interested in renegotiating a new deal with PH and (its chairman) Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Most of us do not ask for anything more than protection of our special rights,” he said.

Raymond said “a fair to all parties” renegotiation, as proposed by PH in its manifesto, was unfair to Sabahans as Sabah already has all its safeguards laid out in the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report signed on February 27, 1963.

“As far as Sabah is concerned, we have our special positions together with Sarawak in the Federation of Malaysia… In this respect, we are superior to Selangor, Penang and Kelantan under the PH governments,” he said.

He said renegotiating a deal would also be unconstitutional if it violates the special rights of the states as listed in the IGC report and Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

The IGC report covers matters such as religious freedom, education, representation in Parliament, the position of indigenous races, immigration, citizenship and state constitution.

“It is important to note that these special rights are valid and enforceable, even if they are not expressly provided for in the Constitution. This is stated under Article III of the Malaysia Agreement,” he said.

Raymond said it was surprising that Dr Mahathir had made the call for renegotiation, saying he bore witness to the erosion of Sabah’s special rights eroded during his tenure as prime minister.  

“For instance, in 1983, Dr Mahathir revoked the legislative right of Sabah provided for under MA63, but not Sarawak’s. He did so without going to Parliament and only using Article 95C of the Federal Constitution.

“This was with regard to the state’s legislative right on electricity, gas and gas works, and other works for the production and distribution of power and energy,” Raymond said.

He said the people had yet to hear anything from any PH’s top leaders, namely Dr Mahathir and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, on upholding the special rights of Sabah and Sarawak.  

This differs from Prime Minister Najib Razak’s promise to restore the rights of Sabah and Sarawak, with a Sabah rights committee chaired by special task minister Teo Chee Kang established and preparing recommendations for the devolution of powers.

“I’m not sure when Najib will announce the restoration of state rights but we don’t expect to have it all at one time. It also has to come in stages for Sabah to be prepared for it,” said Raymond.

Raymond said it was Dr Mahathir who had proposed that Sabah and Sarawak surrender their immigration rights so that Malaysians and Peninsular Malaysia would not need passports to enter the states in 1996.

“I believe Dr Mahathir and other PH leaders still have plans to remove Sabah’s immigration rights since many of them have been barred from entering the states.” – September 27, 2017.