By NUR SHAZREENA ALI& NUR ASHIKIN LOUIS
KUCHING: Federal government’s U-turn on setting up a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to handle the issues pertaining to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) appears to be doubtful.
The is an opinion of Batu Kitang assemblyman who said the move was another drama by the federal government after its unprecedented move to relocate the headquarters of the Registry of the High Court of Sarawak and Sabah at Jalan Gersik here to Kota Kinabalu effective May 1.
Directing his questions to de facto Law Minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong, he said a PSC should have been set up before the tabling of the Bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution which subsequently failed.
“Is it not too late to think of PSC now? Why wasn’t PSC established prior to the tabling of the amendment to Article 1(2) in Parliament? Why was the tabling the Bill rushed?” Lo asked.
“It was only after GPS MPs refused to vote for the Bill, did he look into forming a PSC. Is this a sign of ignorance or an attempt to pull the wool over Sarawak’s eyes?
“What if the Bill had been pushed through during the first reading? Then Sarawak and Sabah would be at the same status as the Malayan states, and we would lose the rights to our oil and gas resources, etc!”
On the selection of members for a PSC, Lo proposed equal representation for the three parties – Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah.
“Would they be equal in numbers at 33 per cent for each of them?” he asked.
“Will there be equal numbers from government and opposition parties?”
Lo further recalled that GPS MPs did put forward a motion calling for the formation of a PSC during the recent tabling of the Bill.
“We were ignored, and then the Bill was thwarted with 136 MPs voting against it, 60 for it, and one abstained,” he said.
Lo also called upon Sarawakians to stand together and never let any old trick distract them from the mission to regain Sarawak and Sabah’s autonomous rights enshrined in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
