Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing
KUCHING: Barisan Nasional (BN), as the democratically-elected coalition to form the government, should be let to deal with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) issue within the four walls or in closed door discussions.
In defending his suggestion that that the opposition be excluded in such discussions, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing feared that the discussions would go nowhere if the opposition, with their political one-upmanship, were allowed to join in. Referring to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak chairman Baru Bian’s latest statement on this matter, Masing said Baru took a political upmanship approach by claiming that issues regarding the MA63 were highlighted by opposition parties like PKR but not political parties in BN.
“Baru Bian’s statement is an example of political upmanship on MA63 which I tried to avoid. He claimed that PKR started it all and BN just followed. Did he realise that Sarawak government via the State Secretary’s Office had discussed, within four walls, for quite some time on devolution of power with the federal government government?
“Political upmanship approach will not bring us anywhere but noise and politicking. Let a democratic elected govt (which BN is) deal with these issues,” said Masing, who is also president of state BN component Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
Masing had on Sunday reportedly stated his preference that the discussion on MA63 to be held within the four walls (or closed door) without input from the opposition, saying it would certainly politicise the issue just for the sake of publicity. He feared that if the discussion is done via the State Legislative Assembly, nothing concrete will take place but just noises and manoeuvring by the opposition to score political points.
Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, when officiating at Upko’s national convention in Penampang, Sabah on Saturday said he was ready to discuss with Sabah and Sarawak the MA63, and stressed that his door was always open to leaders from Sabah and Sarawak.
Meanwhile, PRS Youth in their statement also echoed the suggestion by Masing that the discussions be held within the four walls without any outside intimidation.
In a statement issued by their information chief Andy Lawrence, they said such talks must be held in a right manner by stripping all the elements of emotion and focussing more on the facts.
“At this point, the Prime Minister should start to elaborate in detail on how the mechanism of negotiation needs to be carried out. If the negotiation comes in stages, at least the people of Sabah and Sarawak need to be well-informed on what issues are to be negotiated during the initial stage and the direction of the negotiation. The people in both Sabah and Sarawak are quite reasonable in their demands and they look forward to welcome any negotiation with good resolution, plus establishing a common interest for the betterment of the country,” they said.
PRS Youth also expressed their hope that all parties involved in the agreement will be able to resist the urge of getting into an argument.
They highlighted that in order to achieve a breakthrough with good terms, one must be able to understand the perspectives of the people of Sabah and Sarawak pertaining to MA63.
“As (late US president) John F. Kennedy once said: ‘Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate’. We think we had heard enough about MA63 from Sabah and Sarawak people and leaders. Hence, we believe that negotiation should start now. To start the ball rolling, act on some demand, if not all. As for Sarawak for example, (probably) to announce the increase of the oil royalty and education autonomy to Sarawak. We are not asking for anything beyond the MA63, but we need to acknowledge that the MA63 will be the basis for negotiation,” they said.