RESTORING SARAWAK RIGHTS
KUCHING: Sarawak Patriots Association (SPA) is happy with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong’s recent announcement that the restoration of Sarawak and Sabah’s rights will be brought up in Parliament in March next year.
Its president Datuk Dr John Lau views it is a positive step in that the federal government was willing to restore Sarawak and Sabah’s rights contained in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“However, just amending Article 1 (2) of the Federal Constitution is not sufficient to restore Sarawak and Sabah’s rights under the MA63,” he said.
He said Article 160 also must be amended in order to insert the words ‘Federation of Malaysia’ to replace Federation of Malaya.
“The Petroleum Development Act 1974, Act 354 (to be repealed), Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1984, Fisheries Act 1985, and Territorial Sea Act 2012 should be made inapplicable to Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
“Tun Rahman’s letter dated March 27, 1975 should be declared void and replaced with a new standard international full-bodied agreement on oil royalty with a revision clause instead of just two pages of open-ended agreements.”
He said SPA wished the federal government would treat Sarawak fairly as an equal partner of Malaya by allocating finance to meet its development needs.
