Sabah, S’wak want UK inquiry similar to HK

The British Parliament's inquiry on Hong Kong has sparked renewed interest in Sabah and Sarawak for a similar one on the Malaysia Agreement.

KUCHING - Sabah and Sarawak activists want the British Parliament to hold an inquiry on the Malaysia Agreement (MA63) signed on July 9, 1963, similar to the one on Hong Kong now, 30 years after the territory was returned to China.

A Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on July 25 stated that the British Parliament had begun an inquiry: “The UK’s relations with Hong Kong: 30 years after the Joint Declaration;” an agreement signed in 1984 between the UK and China for the return of Hong Kong.

Sarawak Association of Peoples’ Aspiration (Sapa) president Lina Soo raised the plight of Borneo yesterday after Hong Kong legislator Anson Chan told WSJ: “Britain is a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration.

Surely no self-respecting co-signatory can stand idly by when their counterpart breaks the agreement? How can this be a foreign interference?”

The UK-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPIM) had asked for a Royal Inquiry on the MA63 in recent months.

“The Queen’s secretary wrote to say that the matter had been referred to the Foreign Secretary but he doesn’t appear to be in favour of the move,” said BoPIM president Daniel John Jambun.

Jambun had also addressed the House of Commons on the issue of Sabah and Sarawak being dragged into the 1963 Federation with Malaya after Singapore merged with it.

“We can cite Hong Kong and apply for leave to apply for a Judicial Review,” he said.

However, using the Anson argument, Soo remains confident that the UK Parliament can institute a similar inquiry on the  MA63.

She said such an inquiry would determine whether the UK had breached its solemn undertaking given in 1946 when annexing Sarawak as a crown colony and that it would restore Sarawak’s independence.

She added that the second element was whether Sarawak and Sabah had the legal capacity to make international agreements as British colonies at the time the MA63 was signed.

“The MA63 may have been done completely in breach of the UN Decolonisation Declaration and Resolution 1514 (XV) 1960 and thereby flouted international law on self-determination,” said Soo, in suggesting a third element for an inquiry.

There have been various public forums in Borneo, Kuala Lumpur and Australia demanding a Review of the MA63.

By Joe Fernandez in FMT