Motion urging KL to return Sabah’s status in MA63

KOTA KINABALU - Tamparuli assemblyman Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred M Bumburing will be tabling a motion in the coming State Assembly sitting to urge the Federal Government to return Sabah’s status as stated in the Malaysia Agreement (MA) 1963.

The Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) president said that they were doing this in support of the announcement by Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem recently.

“PCS fully support the position taken by Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan to urge the Federal Government to restore Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to its original provisions before it was amended by parliament in 1976 in line with Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Malaysia Act 1963 (MA63).

“Along this line, we are going to table a motion in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly to adopt the same position that will be taken by the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly and to give mandate to a Sabah MP to table a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution by restoring it to its original terms.

“I hope, for the sake of Sabah and in the interest of Sabah, that the Speaker will allow for this Private Member’s motion to be debated and I also hereby sincerely urge all the members of Sabah State Assembly to support this motion,” Bumburing said in a statement yesterday.

On November 2, Adenan was reported as saying that a comprehensive motion which covered all aspects of Sarawak’s rights including the Territorial Sea Act 2012 would be tabled at the next State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting, scheduled for Nov 21 to 30.

“This will be a comprehensive motion including the Territorial Sea Act which we regard as no longer in effect because the emergency ordinance has been withdrawn and the status of Sabah and Sarawak is separate from the states of West Malaysia,” he remarked.

“The constitution says that the states of Malaysia are the states of West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak, and Singapore. Of course, Singapore doesn’t apply anymore. They changed that in 1976 to say that the states of Malaysia are the states of West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak as the 13 states on the same status.

“We want to change this back to what it originally was. So it will be a comprehensive motion to bring us back to the status we occupied way back in 1963,” he explained.