KUCHING: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law), Datuk Liew Vui Keong yesterday disclosed that the paper on the line-up for the special committee on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) would be submitted to the Federal Cabinet by this week.
He said the MA63 was a subject very close to the hearts of many Sabahans and Sarawakians who looked forward to the restoration of the states’ rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
“At this moment, the special committee has been set up. The line-up has been given to the various ministries for their recommendations and then the paper will be submitted to the Cabinet hopefully by this week,” Liew told a media conference after meeting members of the Sarawak legal fraternity at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar, Jalan Simpang Tiga here yesterday.
He revealed that there would be three levels of the committee, namely, the steering committee, technical committee and working committee.
“The working committee will have to sit once every two weeks while the technical committee will have to sit once a month and the steering committee once every two months.
“The working committee will do all the preliminary work and then sort out the terms of reference and the work for the technical committee to look at. The technical committee will make all the necessary adjustments from there and then, we will go to the standing committee. So once that is done, I think we will see the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement,” he said.
Liew added that the steering committee was at the Cabinet level while the technical committee would include the Attorney General of Malaysia, the state Attorney Generals from Sabah and Sarawak and Cabinet Ministers.
Since the previous government also had a committee that looked into MA63, he said: “I think we will be able to look into the work that they had done and to take the best.
“I think this committee will go straight into the core issues of the matter. We don’t really want to go back to the historical issues because there are many disputes that we don’t want to dispute again. The fact that we were together on September 16, 1963 is a known fact and it is a fact that there was a Malaysia Agreement in 1963.
“So we don’t really want to go into these. We want to go straight into implementing this Malaysia Agreement and what we can do from there and that is the way forward.
“So give us time because this matter concerns the whole country.
“The most important thing is that Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed on September 16, 2018 in Kota Kinabalu already made an official announcement that Sabah and Sarawak were equal partners with the Federation of Malaya. I think that is a recognition and we start from there,” added Liew.
He added he will be presenting and tabling the working paper to the Cabinet. “It will be me. My officer has informed me. The paper has been completed, I have signed it and I have worked on the memorandum.”
He disclosed the paper was compiled by Secretariat, which is the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department headed by Datuk Jalil Marzuki, the Director-General of the Division. “We have the secretariat, so it is done properly,” said Liew.
He continued: “In the Steering Committee, we will have the Prime Minister as chairperson and then we have the Chief Ministers of both Sabah and Sarawak. We also will have the Cabinet Ministers and also the AG and also the AGs of Sabah and Sarawak.
“In the steering committee, we will also have the academicians. In the technical committee, we will also have the AGs together with me as the co-chair, and then we also have the Cabinet Ministers plus also certain representatives from Sabah and Sarawak and also academicians.
“On the issues that were already brought up by so many learned people in the country, on this Malaysian Agreement, the working committee will consist of the Chief Secretary to the Government (KSN) and also the Secretary-general at the ministry level.
“The working committee has to work out the terms of reference and there are many other tasks that need to be done at that level.”
On the amendment to the federal constitution, Liew revealed that I had been working very closely with the IRC (The Institutional Reform Committee), which was set up soon after May 9 election this eyar.
“We have the Council of Imminence Persons. The IRC is looking into reforming various institutions in the country including the Parliament, SPRM and SPR, the appointment of high ranking officers in the country as well as human rights and judiciary issues.
“ So this is where I have been tasked, as reported in the press, together with Dato Seri Azmin to work together with the opposition MPs to come up with some form of agreement and consensus to amend the constitution especially on the MA63, Articles 1 and 2.
“That is very important as we want to make it back to pre 1974 in order make us equal partners. Once Articles 1 and 2 are amended, I think the rest will follow. Then, we can talk about oil royalty, equal distribution and regional development.”
Liew disclosed that in the last Parliament sitting, he met some of the opposition members and a dinner last night, he also met some of them.
“It is an ongoing process. I think some of them are also my old friends and when it comes to MA63, I don’t think anyone will say no,” he said.
