SABAH lawmakers from both sides of the political divide will likely support Putrajaya’s move to amend the federal constitution to raise the status of Sabah and Sarawak from states to equal partners in the federation of Malaysia.

Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin said supporting the amendment would pave the way for the federal government to restore the other rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

“I will support the move. I remembered our status was downgraded to merely one of the 13 states by the federal government some time in the 1970s.

“It was wrong as it goes against the original terms of the formation of Malaysia back in 1963,” said the Umno lawmaker.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his Malaysia Day address said Putrajaya will restore the status of the Borneo states to their original status after completing the revision of the MA63.

This was part of the honouring of the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.

However, Dr Mahathir expressed his concern that the PH government may not succeed in amending the federal constitution to reflect the terms of MA63 in Parliament because of the opposition numbers in the Dewan Rakyat. 

Keningau MP Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said he supports the full restoration of Sabah’s rights.

“At first, I am encouraged… but I am discouraged now because it looks like Dr Mahathir is only making further excuses to delay the implementation of the MA63,” said Kitingan.

“Sabah and Sarawak will surely support the move but restoring Article 1(2) on the federal constitution is useless if the other constitutional rights are ignored, not implemented like the revenue rights in Article 112c/112d and those in Schedule 10,” he said.

Article 1(2) refers to the original words to describe the regions merging to form Malaysia, the legal form that points to the original partner status of the Borneo states, while Article 112c and 112d refer to state revenue.

Karanaan assemblyman and Sabah Umno secretary Masidi Manjun said Dr Mahathir should not assume the opposition would not support the move, but should immediately table the amendments in the October sitting of the Dewan Rakyat.

“I am confident that all Sabah and Sarawak MPs from both sides of the political divide will vote for the amendment.

“It would be short of political suicide for any MP from the two states not to support the amendment,” said Masidi.

Sabah and Sarawak have 56 MPs.

Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya were the original partners in the formation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963.

Several years after Singapore left the federation in 1965, the equal status of Sabah and Sarawak was downgraded to render them merely states within the federation.

Over the years, there has been a growing dissatisfaction towards the federal government’s imbalanced distribution of resources and the lack of autonomy for the state governments in managing their education and resources. – September 17, 2018.