Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
KUCHING: There is a need to review (the implementation and compliance of) the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), signed between the Great Britain, Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah to provide Sarawak and Sabah more autonomy and development, said Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“I found out that when we centralised the country’s administration in Peninsular Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur, sometimes the Peninsula didn’t give sufficient attention to Sabah and Sarawak.
“When we negotiated on the formation of Malaysia, the negotiation was between Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak. But when we formed Malaysia, we regarded Sabah and Sarawak not as partners, but as states with the same status as other states like Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan.
“So the concentration to the development of Sabah and Sarawak was not so strong from the federal government. Today we need to review our agreement with them and we need to give them more power to ensure greater development in Sabah and Sarawak,” the former prime minister said in a live talk via Facebook today.
Dr Mahathir, who is Pakatan Harapan Prime Minister candidate, was responding to a question from a viewer on his opinion regarding poverty among the Bumiputera in Sabah and Sarawak and the lack of development in those two states.
In stressing that the federal government needs to give more attention to the people in Sarawak and Sabah, particularly the poor, Dr Mahathir said if the two states are given special focus, the government will be able to reduce the poverty rate among the people in these two states.
With that, he believed that the standard of living of the people in the two East Malaysia states will be comparable to those in Peninsular Malaysia.