Two NGOs team up for rights of Sabah, Sarawak

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KOTA KINABALU:  The fight for rights and autonomy of Sabah and Sarawak has been geared up more seriously with the sealing of a collaboration on Tuesday between two NGOs.

The president of the UK-based Borneo Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BOPIM), Daniel John Jambun, said that a historic meeting between BOPIM and the Sarawak Sovereignty Movement (SSM) held in Kuching on June 11 was to commit to “fighting for the sovereignty of Sabah and Sarawak.”

Jambun in a joint statement with SSM’s spokesman, Dato’ Moshidi Abdul Rahman, said that the gist of the BOPIM-SSM approach is for the revival of the two states’ sovereignty as were achieved on August 31, 1963 for Sabah, and on July 22, 1963 for Sarawak.

The NGOs see 2013 as an opportune year for the united NGOs to commence pursuit of this long-overdue objective especially because 2013 marks the 50th year of the Malaysia Agreement.

“At the same time we want to explore further the deeper nature of the relationship that both Sabah and Sarawak should have with Malaya after the restoration of the sovereignties of the Borneo states,” they said.

“One idea is that when it comes to Sabah and Sarawak, the Federal Government should confine itself to defence, foreign affairs and national economic planning.

“We need to seriously re-look at the whole history and arrangement of the Malaysian federation. Firstly, we are of the position that there has not been a proper referendum conducted in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Malaya prior to the formation of Malaysia,” the joint statement said.

Jambun explained that the BOPIM-SSM stance is that because of the absence of a referendum, the Government in Putrajaya/Kuala Lumpur saw no compelling reason to fulfill the provisions of the Malaysia Agreement, and this had led to a lot of what is now seen as non-compliance.

“We must be aware of the fact that the Cobbold Commission was not a referendum. It was merely a survey and this clearly was an open British and Malayan breach and transgression of the United Nation Protocols on Decolonization.”

BOPIM and SSM also asserted that there is no ‘Constitution of Malaysia’ but a ‘Federal Constitution’ which is a modified version of the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya 1957.’

ow what we have is the codified Constitution of the Federation of Malaya being passed off as the Constitution of Malaysia, which leads to the implication that the Federation of Malaya as masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia.

“This is perhaps the reason why the whole world, and even Malayans, still sees Malaya as Malaysia, without seeing Sabah and Sarawak as important components of the federation,” Jambun said.

“But within Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are being referred to as the 12th and 13th states after the departure of Singapore which saw the definition of Federation in the Constitution being amended to the disadvantages of the Borneo states.

“We can then interpret that September 16, 1963 became the day that Malaya re-colonized Sabah and Sarawak. As such BOPIM-SSM tends to see this day more as ‘Colonisation Day’ instead of Malaysia Day.”

The two NGOs say they are fighting for sovereignty because it will bring immense benefits to both Sabah and Sarawak.

“For starters, it will help resolve the burning issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah in particular and their presence on the electoral rolls. It an open secret that these illegal immigrants and other foreigners have also been handed MyKads meant for citizens by operation of law. We will have much fairer share of our revenues and be more independent in formulating our own socio-economic planning and overall nation-building efforts,” he said