Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. FIle picture Bernama
KOTA KINABALU (Sept 16): Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to make an announcement on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) at the national-level Malaysia Day celebration in Sibu tonight, which could affect Sarawak and Sabah.
At the launch of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah ‘Aku Janji’ election manifesto here today, he stopped short of giving details of the upcoming announcement.
“Everything that has been written in black and white is the right of Sabah. This is what we will implement. I do not want to announce it now, but I will go into further details of what we will do to implement MA63, during the Malaysia Day celebration in Sibu tonight,” he said.
Under the MA63, Sarawak, North Borneo (Sabah), the Federation of Malaya and at that time, Singapore, formed Malaysia in 1963. The document spells out the position and rights of its various members.
However, the rights of Sarawak and Sabah had been eroded over time and in recent years, the states have been working towards restoring them including with the formation of committees involving the federal government.
Last Thursday, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar revealed that the federal cabinet had approved the setting up of a new special committee on MA63
He said Muhyiddin would officially announce the committee, its composition and the time frame it had been given to achieve its task but it is unclear if this is the announcement expected tonight
Nonetheless, Wan Junaidi said the new committee would be looking at the Cobbold Commission’s finding on the formation of Malaysia and the Inter-governmental Committee reports as well as the Malaysia Act more systematically and holistically.