VARIOUS groups in Sarawak are drawing up separate plans to challenge alleged breaches of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 in a British court.

A civil rights group is seeking for the court to determine if Sarawak is an independent state or a self-governing state whose sovereignty is still held by the British crown.

Dominique Ng, legal counsel for Sarawak for Sarawakians and Sarawak Association for People’s Aspiration, said the British court was an option being explored at this stage by some civil rights groups.

Ng said a major obstacle was the high legal costs.

Zainnal Ajamain, the Sabah researcher considered to be the leading authority on the 1963 agreement that helped form the federation of Malaysia, said recently it could cost the litigant at least RM10 million to take the case to London.

“The moment you walk through the door to engage a queen’s counsel, it’s already RM500,000,” said the Institute for Development Studies executive director.

The high legal cost is forcing Ng’s clients to consider the less favourable course of going to a Malaysian court.

“My group is considering suing the federal government first (in a local court). Only when that fails will we be forced to consider going to the UK,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Ng, a former PKR lawmaker, said cost would not be an issue “because we can do it ourselves” in Malaysia.

“We are a group of lawyers. In the UK, we need to engage English lawyers.”

The Malaysian court is the least favoured recourse because of the issue of locus standi – a legal term meaning “the right to bring an action, to be heard in court, or to address the court on a matter”.

Rights activists and lawyers are mindful of a 2012 case where the high court ruled that two Sabahans did not have locus standi to sue the federal and state governments for allegedly failing to “Borneonise” the federal civil service as agreed upon at the formation of Malaysia.

London was preferred because in the English court “everyone has locus standi”, according to Zainnal and Ng.

The case would also be accepted in the English court because the UK government is a signatory to the agreement.

Nonetheless, Ng believes he and his group of lawyers could overcome “that locus standi thing” in the local court.

“I have found 50 breaches of the MA63 in the 54 years we have been in Malaysia,” said Zainnal, who is offering to share his research material with the rights groups.

“If we throw all 50 at the English court, I’m sure one will sangkut (get snagged). It only takes one breach to render the MA63 invalid, null, and void.

“I’m not being seditious here. We all should be exercising our rights in the MA63, the IGC (inter-governmental committee) report, and the federal constitution, and stop being passive and saying ‘thank you, boss’ every time Putrajaya breaches the agreement.”

Zainnal has authored three books on the MA63. They are The Grand Design, Queen’s Obligation and Crown’s Endgame. – July 26, 2018.