SARAWAK’S pro-independence politician Voon Lee Shan, the brain behind the suit filed in the Kuching High Court to declare the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) an invalid treaty, said he did it so the people of Sarawak and Sabah “know what had happened to us”.

The suit, filed last year by 11 pro-independence and state rights activists led by Dorus Katan Juman, seeks several declarations including that Sarawak be allowed to exit from Malaysia on grounds of breaches of the MA63.

One of the state’s prominent state rights activists, Dominique Ng, said “quite a few” of the plaintiffs are leaders and members of the Sarawak Association for Peoples’ Aspiration, a group agitating for independence.

Voon, a senior lawyer in the Sarawak Bar and president of state-based Parti Bumi Kenyalang, filed the suit in November under his law firm Messrs Voon & Co Advocates. 

The counsel for the plaintiffs, Tiong Ing Ning, is a lawyer in Voon’s legal firm.

Though he filed the action last year, Voon only served the amended writ and statement of claim to the defendants – Putrajaya, the British and Sarawak governments – recently.

In the first case management on Tuesday before judicial commissioner Alexander Siew, Putrajaya and the Sarawak government said they would file an application to strike out the suit. 

“From my research, Sabah and Sarawak were annexed by Malaya to enlarge the territories of Malaya by way of MA63,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

“It is difficult to convince me that Sabah and Sarawak are not colonies of Malaya.”

Voon said the Sarawak government should therefore not try to set aside or strike out this suit “for the benefit of Sarawak”. 

“This is because we have a right to be independent and not be colonised or recolonised by others.”

In a statement issued yesterday, Voon said if the court declares MA63 invalid, then “Malaysia should disintegrate”.

“Without MA63 being entered into by the United Kingdom and Malaya with Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysia could not have been formed in 1963.”

He said after many decades in Malaysia, many Sarawak folk realised that the union with Malaya to form Malaysia did not help much to alleviate the standard of living of most residents.

“Despite rich in natural resources with oil and gas, Sarawak remains a very undeveloped and poor region in Malaysia.” 

He added the union had even caused Sarawak to lose its most prized assets, its oil and gas, with the passing of the highly contentious and controversial law, the Petroleum Development Act 1974.

“People are not happy and this led to a group of 11 Sarawak folk, led by Dorus Katan Juman, to file this suit against the UK, Malaysia and Sarawak governments, to seek several declarations including to declare MA63 as an invalid treaty at the time the treaty was made”. 

He said the treaty was legally void from the start.

“Even if not void or valid at the time it was made, which is doubted, but caused by breaches and or omissions of the terms and conditions therein, the MA63 should be invalidated or be declared invalid.” 

Voon had described the suit as “important” as it affects all Sarawak and Sabah folk. 

“The plaintiffs pray that the Sarawak and federal governments would not seek to strike out their suit and let the court decide on full trial. 

“If Singapore could exit from Malaysia in 1965, there is no reason why Sabah and Sarawak could not exit too.” 

Another prominent state rights activist Peter John Jaban said going to court was not the way to exit Malaysia. 

“The solution is not via legal avenues. It is political. Plain and simple,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Jaban said there must be a political debate followed by a referendum in accordance with the rules laid down by the United Nations. 

“The referendum should have been conducted 60 years ago,” he added. 

During the virtual case management on Tuesday, counsel for the Sarawak government Khairul Kabir Abdul Kadir and the counsel for the federal government Shamsul Bolhassan had said they would file an application to strike out the suit. 

They have a month to file a striking-out application. 

The court has given them until April 15 to file the application. – March 17, 2022.