The Cobbold omission

The world turned on the Borneo Territories when Lord Cameron Cobbold, a governor of the Bank of England, learned in plutology and aphnology, not law, headed a fact-finding commission to study the feasibility of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore joining Malaya in the proposed Federation of Malaysia as equal partners in an international treaty that birthed the Malaysia Agreement of 1963 (MA63).

A banker chosen to lead a political manifesto can only mean that his primary job description was to size up the inground wealth of the Borneo Territories for covert assessment and distribution to the neo-colonial powerhouse. Meanwhile, the leadership of Singapore and Brunei spawned other plans.

Sarawak proposed an 18-Point Agreement as a yardstick for joining the proposed federation based upon the Nine Cardinal Principles of the Rajahs of Sarawak emphasising total control of Sarawak’s affairs by Sarawakians in conformity with the international law doctrine of jus cogens. The resulting MA63 got adulterated and contaminated by avaricious plans of not so well-hidden hands.

“About one-third of the population of each territory strongly favours early realisation of Malaysia without too much concern about terms and conditions . . .,” claimed the Cobbold Report. The banker’s arithmetic and pretzel logic are laughable knowing that two-thirds of the Borneo Territories’ citizens had mixed feelings of apprehension and uncertainty akin to a when-in-doubt-stay-out philosophy.

A major international contract, born deformed as MA63 from the womb of the Cobbold Report, ceased to exist when Singapore exited the federation in 1965. A conveniently missing or carefully omitted novation clause to accommodate the departure and/or arrival of another contractual partner is an affront to customary international law that banker Cobbold negligently avoided.

The Federal Constitution (FC) is peppered with promises and guarantees within the contours of its 183 Articles and 13 Schedules for Sabah and Sarawak ominously referred to as “States”. Cobbold’s major omission was the penalties and sanctions the federal government would encounter in the event it violated any of the foundational principles of Sarawak’s 18-Points Agreement, and Sabah’s 20-Points Agreement that were denied and muzzled in MA63.

The Government Proceedings Act 1956 allows for actions in contract and tort to be brought against the government of Malaysia. Malaysian judges were remiss in not cracking the constitutional whip under Articles 162(6) and 162(7) FC to correct the errors and omissions in a major constitutional document.

The Dewan Rakyat’s recent acquiescence that the Cobbold Commission was seriously flawed is laudable to the extent that it’s better late than never. The first of many steps, as an equal partner in Malaysia, witnessed the emergence of the office of Premier of Sarawak.

The 8th Cardinal Principle says “That the goal of self-government shall always be kept in mind, that the people of Sarawak shall be entrusted in due course with the governance of themselves, and that continuous efforts shall be made to hasten the reaching of this goal by educating them in the obligations, the responsibilities, and the privileges of citizenship.”

The presence of this pivotally important Cardinal Principle can be felt by its absence in MA63. The Rajahs of Sarawak, knowing the landmines and other hazards of neo-colonialism, cautiously included this Principle only to be ignobly sidestepped by politicians in a continuous effort to keep Sarawak in a permanent economic and political chokehold.

The Cobbold omissions saw light when a September 2021 media report quoted a Sarawak politician declaring there is no provision in the FC for Sarawak’s secession. This politician, not versed with the separation of wheat and chaff, is obviously unaware of the UN Resolutions 1514 and 1541, probably fashioned after the 8th Cardinal Principle, for the Borneo Territories to make meaningful decisions for their future socioeconomic and geopolitical goals.

Arthur Quinn observed that “the omission of an expected conjunction – asyndeton – is chronicled in Caesar’s ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, concluded that ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish . . .’ Caesar omitted the conjunction to speed things up emphasizing how quickly the conqueror sizes up his spoils. Lincoln’s omission is more subtle.” Cobbold’s is as subtle as a thunderstorm.

The asyndeton-filled Cobbold Report is a malodorous Malaysian constitutional cadaver that continues to enflame debate, deepen division and spawn disquiet. Its cremation should happen quickly. Its memory must be wiped clean. Putrajaya must come clean, the sooner the better.

The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.