KUALA LUMPUR: Parliament today rejected a motion to establish a Special Committee comprising experts and MPs to review the 20/18 points and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 involving Sabah and Sarawak.
Deputy Speaker Ismail Mohamad rejected the motion on the grounds that the issue was “not urgent” and did not require urgent debating.
Speaking to reporters later, Sabah MP Darell Leiking said he was “perplexed” by Ismail’s decision not to hear the motions as there were many MPs from Sabah and Sarawak in the house.
“I am perplexed with the reasoning given by the Speaker considering that thousands of ordinary Sabahans and Sarawakians are discussing daily in the open, at social gatherings / functions, in the social medias such as Facebook and blogs relating to 20/18 Points.
“Majority of them are asking why both Sabah and Sarawak States are regressing in all fields especially in terms of infrastructure development, health care and equal treatment as Malaysians, amongst others,” said Leiking.
Leiking who is Penampang MP, said there was an urgency to debate the issue in parliament because of the Court of Appeal ruling on use of the term “Allah” in the Catholic publication “The Herald”.
He said it was also a pertinent debate in view of the transfer of judges from East Malaysia to the peninsular.
He said the question of judicial autonomy now arose as East Malaysian judiciary is supposed to be independent from the Peninsular judiciary structure.
Also needed debating is the payment of oil royalty to Sabah and Sarawak, the Borneonization of the civil service and the recent fake Mykads, said Leiking.
He said these incidents made it urgent for MPS to deliberate over whether or the provisions of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 have been fulfilled or at least honored.
“Aren’t all these incidences that greatly affected Sabah urgent matters?
“So, what type of ‘urgent matter’ would Parliament want us to talk about?
“The Motion was only to establish the review committee on the 18/20 Points of Sarawak and Sabah, the results of such review would have determined once and for all on whether the 18/20 points and the Malaysian Agreement 1963 has been fulfilled or otherwise,” said Leiking.
Issues transcends politics
Unfazed by the rejection, Leiking said he will not give up on the matter.
He said although the motion was rejected, it was however read out and put on record in Dewan Rakyat Hansard for all Sabahans, Sarawakians and concerned Peninsular Malaysians to pursue.
“We shall continue this quest to put right what the Federation of Malaysia has failed to do.
“As far as I am concerned, thousands of Sabahans and Sarawakians want the issues on 20/18 Points and Malaysia Agreement 1963 deliberated in the highest law making body in Malaysia.
“These issues transcends political motivation because it will affect our children in the future.
“And majority of the Pakatan Rakyat’s MPs and some of BN MPs from Peninsular are ready to deliberate on it,” he explained.
Leiking meanwhile, was also disappointed with Law Minister Nancy Shukri’s reply in parliament today which he said undermined the protection afforded by the 20/18 Points Agreement to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
Nancy stated in her reply that the government did not think a ‘white paper’ is needed to review the 20/18 Points, as the it had never neglected any states since the formation of Federal of Malaysia in 1963.
But Leiking said the enforcement of these safeguards should be a big concern to MPs from Sabah and Sarawak and the question remained whether the BN MPs from Sabah and Sarawak are willing to protect their electorate.
By P Ramani
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