MIRI: Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has reiterated that the state government will not compromise the rights provided for in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Agreement and the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report.
“During the opening of the Legal Year here on Friday and the speech by the President of Advocates of Association Miri, Gurvir Singh Sandhu, I took note that the Association is particularly concerned with certain areas,” he said during a gala dinner held to mark the occasion here.
His speech was read out by Minister of Transport Datuk Sri Lee Kim Shin.
“Please be rest assured that the Sarawak government also shares such views on adopting or remedying the areas of concern in relation to the judiciary in Sarawak.
“I’m sure that all of us are fully aware of what MA63 entails, including what each region under the MA63 agreement is entitled to, so I will not elaborate further on this.
“However, I will reiterate that it is the Sarawak government’s stand that we are fully entitled to enforce and safeguard the rights and interests of Sarawak in accordance to the terms of MA63,” he stressed.
He said, Sarawak had succeeded in a number of areas in restoring its rights that have been taken away or eroded.
“There are still some outstanding issues pertaining to MA63 which I have raised with our new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and he has assured me that he will resolve them,” he said.
Abang Johari disclosed that Sarawak, has come to a strong position to further advance its rights under MA63.
“The Sarawak government is aware that certain comments have been made in the recent past suggesting that we should compromise on benefits under the MA63 … I wish to reiterate here that we will not make any decision that will compromise Sarawak’s privileges and interest in the Federation of Malaysia,” he stated.
“Lest we forget, that by virtue of the MA63, Sarawak is a partner in the Federation of Malaysia … what is important will be the empowerment of devolution of power to Sarawak and it is not difficult to implement them … the bureaucratic processes can be simplified,” he told some 670 attendees comprising the legal fraternity from West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Among those present were Chief Justice of Malaysia Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, former chief Justice of Malaysia and member of Judicial Appointments Commission Tun Mohd Raus Sharif, the Acting president of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Federal Court Judge (also covering the duties of of the Chief Judge of Malaya) Dato’ Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Law and Institutional Reforms Malaysia Ramkarpal Singh and Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department for Law ,MA63, and State-Federal relations Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.
