London trip a fact-finding mission on MA63 - Minister

KUCHING - The trip to London by the state’s legal team next week is a fact-finding mission on the Malaysia Agreement 1963, especially to confirm facts through documents in the archives there.

According to Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring assistant minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who will head the delegation, the trip will help the state to be factual in their discussions with the federal government on the state’s rights.

“We want to see the real facts, and we don’t want to be speculative and to only interpret things,” she said when met at Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri’s Hari Raya open house at the old State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building here yesterday.

According to Sharifah Hasidah, the team, comprising eight experts including lawyers, will be there for a week from July 16.

“The trip is meant for something that the state wants to be sure about in dealing with the federal government, and as it is for the sake of the state, it is not wastage of public funds,” she stressed. When asked on documents which are in the hands of activist Lina Soo, who said she was willing to hand them over to the legal team, Sharifah Hasidah said they welcome such move.

“If they want to give it to us please do, so we can have a look and read as we are open to it,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nancy said the trip by the legal team is the right of the state government to dig into the state’s past history. “The move is not interfering with the current discussion already in place, as the state and the technical committee will present their findings to the federal (gevernment)which acts as the steering committee, which I am part of,” Nancy pointed out. She said the discussion is a continuous and on-going process, and should the findings reveal more information on the rights of Sarawak and its resources, then it is indeed beneficial.

“What is more important for us is not to look at the cost for the trip, but to look at the aspect of history which we might need to relook,” she added.

On another matter, Nancy pointed out that it is still a long way to go for nuclear energy to be used in the country, with 2030 the estimated target.

“We need to first change the perception of the public on nuclear energy, and now the country is still in its preparation stage,” she said.

She added that the country needs alternative energy source as renewable energy is not sufficient and as a country seeking rapid development, it needs to plan early for such moves.

By Saiful Bahari