The Sarawak government has adopted a wait-and-see approach over the new Pakatan Harapan federal government’s plans to revive the now stalled talks over the contentious Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Sarawak and the Najib Razak administration were in the second phase of the devolution-of-power talks, said Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office, Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.

But talks are in a limbo now with the Barisan Nasional government’s ouster from power in the May 9 general election.

The second-phase talks covered claims to Sarawak’s rights to the Continental Shelf and the territorial sea boundary claims and mining oil and gas.

“This is where the negotiations are now,” Hasidah said in a Facebook post, as she explained what the Sarawak government had done before GE14 to get Putrajaya’s full compliance on MA 1963.

The talks were divided into three phases – devolution of administrative powers, restoration of autonomy and return of eroded state rights and finances.

The first phase was wrapped up by former chief minister Adenan Satem, who eked out 13 administrative deals on January 21, 2016.

The deal was to get rid of duplication of work, such as delegating power to state officers to represent the Public Service Commission and the Education Service Commission in the appointment of officers to the federal civil service, including teaching and medical services.

Hasidah, who is also the state’s assistant minister of law and state-federal relations, said the state government was also successful in gaining back the control of gas supply and distribution from Petronas.

The latter had control over supply and distribution under the Petroleum Mining Act 1966 and Petroleum Development Act 1974.

However, since such laws infringed on the state’s rights, they were to have been sent to the state assembly for ratification.

Since they never were ratified, Sarawak declared the laws null and void and not enforceable in the state.

PH, in its election manifesto, said it will, among others, set up a royal commission to review federal legislations which eroded the rights of Sarawak, increase oil and gas royalties from the present 5% to 20%, restore the status of Sarawak as one of the three territories of Malaysia and devolve full autonomy in education and healthcare and services to the state.

However, there has been no indication when talks would resume.

“Now, we wait and see,” said Hasidah, who led a state delegation to London to unearth corroborative documents and evidence from the British archives last year. – May 28, 2018.